
Class 
Book 



; "P "7 



^2i>' 



£OME ACCOUNT 



LIFE AND WRITINGS 



OF 



JOHN MILTON, 



DERIVED PRINCIPALLY FROM 



NOW FIRST PUBLISHED. 



REV. H. J. TODD, M.A.F.S.A. & R.S.L. 

CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJESTY, 
AND RECTOR OF SETTR1NGTON, COUNTY OF YORK. 




LONDON: 

PRINTED FOR C. AND J. RIVINGTON ; J. CUTHELL ; J. NUNN ; J. AND W. T. 
CLARKE; LONGMAN AND CO.; T. CADELL ; JEFFERY AND SON; J. RICHARD- 
SON; CARPENTER AND SON; J. MAWMAN ; BALDWIN AND CO. ; J.BOOKER; 
J. BOHN ; J. DUNCAN ; BLACK AND CO. ; G. B. WHITTAKER ; J. BAIN ; W. 
MASON; J. HEARNE; SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL; T. MASON, JUN. ; AND 
SAUNDERS AND HODGSON. 



1826. 






&% , 



w 



LONDON : 

PRINTED BY R. GILBERT, 
st. John's square. 



PREFACE. 



An Account of the Life and Writings of Mil- 
ton, brief indeed, and with no other pretension 
than that of being drawn from authentick 
sources, has accompanied two editions which I 
have published of Milton's Poetical Works. To 
a third edition, now in circulation, some of that 
account is prefixed, greatly augmented with ori- 
ginal documents illustrating the private and pub- 
lick character of Milton, which have long been 
hidden among other literary curiosities, and till 
now have never been published. It is believed, 
that to many readers of the poet this enlarged 
biography might be acceptable in a separate 
volume. Of the important materials, therefore, 
which compose it, further information shall here 
be given. 

In his Majesty's State-Paper Office they are 
preserved; and my knowledge of them, in the 
first instance, I owe to the friendly commu- 
nication of Mr. Evans, bookseller, in Pall- 
Mali. It occurred some time since to the 

a 2 



iv PREFACE. 

deputy keeper of the State-Papers, Robert Le- 
mon, Esq., that as the official life of Milton was 
known only as to the fact of his having been 
Latin Secretary to the Council of State during 
the Usurpation, an investigation of the Orders 
of Council might discover new facts relating 
to the secretary. His searches were repaid 
with ample success. And his Extracts from the 
Council-Books were transmitted to me, with 
the kind approbation of the Right Hon. Mr. 
Secretary Peel, early in 1825. These Books, 
from which so much curious information is de- 
rived, contain the daily transactions of the Exe- 
cutive Government in England from February 
1648-9 to September 1658, in uninterrupted 
succession ; and are particularly valuable from 
the dissolution of the Long Parliament in 1653 
to the death of Cromwell, as, during the greater 
part of that period, the Council of State com- 
bined the executive and legislative functions 
of government; and these Order-Books^ Mr. 
Lemon adds, are the authentick but hitherto 
unknown records of their proceedings. But 
besides these, in the same Office there exist 
other documents, entitled Royalists' Composi- 
tion-Papers. They comprehend, Mr. Lemon 
says, two distinct series ; the first consisting of 
petitions of Royalists to the Commissioners for 



PREFACE. v 

Sequestration, of the orders of those Commis- 
sioners respecting the sequestration of Estates, 
of the reports of their subordinate officers, and 
of the correspondence with sub-commissioners 
and other agents in every part of the kingdom : 
The second series exhibits the original parti- 
culars of property and estates, for which 
Royalists were permitted to compound on the 
payment of a fine. These papers are peculi- 
arly valuable in illustrating the family history 
as well as the various property of individuals, 
throughout the kingdom, during the time of 
the Great Rebellion. Of these, by the continued 
industry and accurate attention of Mr. Lemon, 
no less than one hundred and sixty seven folio 
volumes had been recovered and arranged, 
when (in 1825 also) he transmitted to me from 
this invaluable collection, the sequestration-pa- 
pers relating to Mr. Powell, the father of Mil- 
ton's first wife, in which Milton himself is par- 
ticularly concerned ; and to Sir Christopher 
Milton, the brother of the poet. Other papers 
and letters, from the same office, alike unknown 
till now, and of the greatest service to the bio- 
graphy of Milton, have since, at various times, 
been sent to me by this gentleman ; empowered 
as he was at all times so to do, from the very 
first exertion of his kindness, by the permission 



vi PREFACE. 



of Mr. Secretary Peel : to whom, and to Mr. 
Under-Secretary Hobhouse, I acknowledge the 
greatest obligations, as well as to Mr. Lemon ; 
and to whose friendly and condescending in- 
strumentality the publick is indebted for what 
is now told of the poet, of his family, and of 
some of his works, which never was before in 
print. What has been thus liberally supplied, 
might indeed by others have been arranged with 
elegance, and illustrated with taste ; but not with 
greater fidelity than the following pages exhibit. 
This with other anecdotes relating to the his- 
tory of Milton's friends, of his works, and of his 
times, will plead for attention to an unadorned 
narration. A fac-simile of the poet's hand- 
writing is also given from one of the documents 
in the State-Paper Office ; and to the biography 
I have now added, as Hay ley did to his Life of 
Milton, an Inquiry into the Origin of Paradise 
Lost. 



SETTRINGTON, 
May 1, 1826. 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION I. 



PAGS 

From the Birth of Milton to the time of his Marriage • • • . 1 



SECTION II. 

From his Marriage to the time of his being appointed 
Secretary for Foreign Tongues 57 

SECTION III. 

From his appointment as Secretary for Foreign Tongues 
to the Restoration of King Charles the Second 107 

SECTION IV. 

From the Restoration of King Charles the Second to the 
Death of Milton 183 

SECTION V. 

Of political and other publications ascribed to Milton ; 
with reference to his genuine Prose- Works, and their 
general character • • 221 

SECTION VI. 

Of the personal and general character of Milton ; of his 
circumstances ; and of his family 235 



CONTENTS. 

SECTION VII. 

PAGE 

The Nuncupative Will of Milton : with Notes by the late 
Rev. Thomas Warton, and other observations 263 

SECTION VIII. 

Of Compositions left by Milton in Manuscript, and parti- 
cularly of his Treatise of Theology lately discovered .... 291 

SECTION IX. 
Recapitulation and Conclusion • 365 

APPENDIX. 
Inquiry into the Origin of Paradise Lost *•••••• 37 1 



SOME ACCOUNT 

OF THE 

LIFE AND WRITINGS 

OF 

MILTON. 



SECTION L 
From the Birth of Milton to the time of his Marriage. 

John Milton, son of John and Sarah Milton, was 
born on the 9th of December a 1608, at the house 
of his father, who was then an eminent scrivener in 
London, and lived at the sign of the Spread Eagle 
(which was the armorial ensign of the family) in 
Bread-street. The ancestry of the poet was highly 
respectable. His father was educated as a gentleman, 
and became a member of Christ-Church, Oxford ; 
in which society, as it may be presumed, he imbibed 
his attachment to the doctrines of the Reformation, 
and abjured the errours of Popery ; in consequence 
of which, his father, who was a bigotted papist, dis^ 

a " The xx th daye of December 1608 was baptized John, the 
sonne of John Mylton, scrivenor." Extract from the Register 
of Allhallows, Bread-street. 



6 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

inherited him. The student therefore chose, for his 
support, the profession already mentioned; in the 
practice of which he became so successful as to be 
enabled to give his children the advantages of a po- 
lite education, and at length to retire with comfort 
into the country. 

The grandfather of the poet was under-ranger or 
keeper of the forest of Shotover, near Halton, in 
Oxfordshire ; and probably resided at the village of 
Milton in that neighbourhood, b where the family of 
Milton, in remoter times, were distinguished for their 
opulence ; till, one of them having taken the un- 
fortunate side in the civil wars of York and Lancas- 
ter, the estate was sequestered ; and the proprietor 
was left with nothing but what he c held by his 
wife. There is a tradition d that the poet had once 
resided in this village, while he was Secretary to 
the Council of State. 



b In the Registers of Milton, as I have been obligingly in- 
formed by letter from the Rev. Mr. Jones, there are however no 
entries of the name 6f Milton. Phillips, Milton's nephew, says 
that the family resided at Milton near Abingdon in Oxfordshire, 
as appeared by the monuments then to be seen in Milton church. 
But that Milton is in Berkshire ; and Dr. Newton searched in 
vain for the monuments said to exist in that church. The in- 
formation of Wood is most probably correct, that they lived at 
Milton near Halton and Thame. I find in R. Willeii Poematum 
Liber, 1573, among the Winchester scholars therein named of 
that period, a John Milton ; probably one of this family. 

c Phillips's Life of Milton, 1694, p. iv. 

d Communicated to me by letter from Milton. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. o 

The mother of Milton is said by e Wood, from 
Aubrey, to have been a Bradshaw ; descended from 
a family of that name in Lancashire. Peck relates, 
that he was f informed she was a Haughton of 
Haughton-tower in the same county. But Phillips, 
her grandson, whose authority it is most reasonable 
to admit, g affirms, in his Life of Milton, that she 
was a Caston, of a genteel family derived originally 
from Wales. Milton himself has h recorded, with 
becoming reference to the respectability of his de- 
scent, the great esteem in which she was held for her 
virtues, especially her charity. 

His father was particularly distinguished for his 
musical abilities. He is said to have been a * volu- 
minous composer, and equal in science, if not in 
genius, to the best musicians of his age. Sir John 
Hawkins and Dr. Burney, in their Histories of Mu- 
sick, have each selected a specimen of his skill. He 
has been mentioned also by Mr. Warton, as the 
author of A sixe-fold Politician ; together with 
a sixe-fold precept of Policy, Lond. 1609. But 
Mr. Hayley agrees with Dr. Farmer and Mr. Reed 

e Fasti Ox. vol. i. p. 262, &c. chiefly taken, as Mr. Warton 
has observed, from Aubrey's manuscript Life of Milton, preserved 
in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 

f Memoirs of Milton, 1740, p. 1. 

« Life of Milton, p. v. 

h " Londini sum natus, genere honesto, patre viro integerrimo, 
matre probatissima, et eleemosynis per viciniam potissimum nota." 
Defens. Sec. vol. hi. p. 95. edit. fol. 1698. 

1 Dr. Burney's Hist, of Musick, vol. iii. p. 134. 

b2 



4 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

in assigning that work rather to John Melton, au- 
thor of the Astrologaster, than to the father of our 
poet. Of his attachment to literature, however, the 
Latin verses of his son, addressed to him with no 
less elegance than gratitude, are an unequivocal 
proof. Perhaps it may again be confounding him 
with the author of the Astrologaster, in noticing the 
person who signs himself John Melton, citizen of 
London, at the close of a very indifferent Sonnet of 
fourteen lines, addressed to John Lane on his Guy 
of Warwick, which is preserved in the British Mu- 
seum, and bears the date of licence for being printed 
in July 1617. This John Lane is the person whom 
Milton's nephew calls k " a fine old queen Elizabeth 
gentleman, who was living within his remembrance," 
and of whose poems he gives a very flattering charac- 
ter. The Sonnet is entitled " In Poesis Laudem," 
and is not worth citing. But a little poem, to which 
the musick of the elder Milton's Madrigal is adapted, 
(whether the poetical as well as the musical compo- 
sition be his or not,) is given 1 below, on account of 

k Phillips's Theatrum Poetarum, 1675, p. 111. 

1 See Madrigales, viz. The Triumphes of Oriana, to 5 and 6 
voices, composed by diuers seuerall aucthors. Newly published 
by Thomas Morley, Batcheler of Musick, &c. 4to. Lond. 1601. 
" For 6. Voices. Mad. XVIII. 

" Fay re Orian in the morne, 

" Before the day was borne, 

" With velvet steps on ground, 

" Which made nor print nor sound, 

" Would see hir nymphs abed, 

" What lives those ladies led : 



4 

AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



the circumstance which occasioned it, (that of flat- 
tering a maiden queen on the verge of seventy,) as 
a curiosity. 

The care, with which Milton was educated, shows 
the m discernment of his father. The bloom of genius 
was fondly noticed, and wisely encouraged. He was 
so happy, bishop Newton says, as to share the ad- 
vantages both of private and publick education. He 
was at first instructed, by private tuition, under 
n Thomas Young, whom Aubrey calls " a puritan in 
Essex who cutt his haire short ;" who, having quitted 

" The roses blushing sayd, 

" O stay thou shepherd's mayd : 

" And on a sodain all 

" They rose and heard hir call. 

" Then sang those shepherds and nymphs of Diana,, 

" Long live faire Oriana V 
m The Annual Register of 1762 very erroneously refers to 
Milton's poem Ad Patrem, in order to support the following 
mistaken assertion : " Ariosto often lamented, as Ovid and Pe- 
trarch did before him, and our own Milton since, that his father 
banished him from the Muses." Characters, Life of Ariosto, p. 
23. Milton's verses to his father prove exactly the reverse. 

n If Milton imbibed from this instructor, as Mr. Warton sup- 
poses, the principles of puritanism, it may be curious to re- 
mark that he never adopted from him the outward symbol of the 
sect. Milton preserved his " clustering locks" throughout the 
reign of the round-heads. Wood, describing the Seekers who 
came to preach at Oxford in 1647, affords a proper commentary 
on Young's cutting his hair short. " The generality of them had 
mortified countenances, puling voices, and eyes commonly, when 
in discourse, lifted up, with hands lying on their breasts. They 
mostly had short hair, which at this time was commonly called 
the Committee cut" &c. Fasti. Ox. vol. ii. p. 61. 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

his country on account of his religious opinions, be- 
came Chaplain to the English merchants at Ham- 
burgh; but afterwards returned, and during the 
usurpation of Cromwell was master of Jesus College, 
Cambridge. Of the pupil's affection for his early 
tutor, his fourth elegy, and two Latin epistles, are 
publick testimonies. Mr. Hayley considers the por- 
trait of Milton by Cornelius Jansen, drawn when he 
was only ten years old, at which age Aubrey affirms 
" he was a poet," as having been executed in order 
to operate as a powerful incentive to the future ex- 
ertion of the infant author. This supposition is very 
probable : And, as the portrait was drawn by a 
painter then rising into fame, and whose price for a 
head was five broad pieces, the mark of encourage- 
ment was rendered more handsome and more con- 
spicuous. 

From the tuition of Mr. Young, Milton was re* 
moved to St. Paul's School, under the care of Alex- 
ander Gill, who at that time was the master ; to 
whose son, who was then usher and afterwards 
master, and with whom Milton was a favourite 
scholar, are addressed, in friendship, three of the 
poet's Latin epistles. There is p no register of ad- 



° Jansen's first works in England are said to be dated about 
1618; the year, in which the young poet's portrait was drawn. 
See Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, Works, vol. iii. p. 149. 
edit. 1798. 

p As I found, upon inquiry of the Rev. Dr. Roberts, the late 
Head Master. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. / 

missions into St. Paul's School so far back as the 
beginning of the seventeenth century. But,, as Mil- 
ton's domestick preceptor quitted England in 1623, 
it is probable that he was then admitted into that 
seminary ; at which time he was in his fifteenth year. 
He had already studied with uncommon avidity ; but 
at the same time with such inattention to his health, 
seldom retiring from his books before midnight, that 
the source of his blindness may be traced to his early 
passion for letters. In his twelfth year, as q he tells 
us, this literary devotion began ; from which he was 
not to be deterred either by the natural debility of 
his eyes, or by his frequent head-aches. The union 
of genius and application in the same person was 
never more conspicuous. 

In 1623 he produced his first poetical attempts, 
the Translations of the Wkth and 136th Psalms, 
to which, as to some other juvenile productions, he 

q " Pater me puerulum humaniorum literarum studiis desti- 
navit ; quas ita avide arripui, ut ab anno cetatis duodecimo vix 
unquam ante mediam noctem a lucubrationibus cubitum disce- 
derem ; quae prima oculorum pernicies fuit, quorum ad naturalem 
debilitatem accesserant et crebri capitis dolores ; quae omnia cum 
discendi impetum non retardarent, et in ludo literario, et sub aliis 
domi magistris erudiendum quotidie curavit." Def. Sec. ut supr. 
Aubrey also relates, that " when Milton went to sehoole, and 
when he was very younge, he studied very hard, and sate up 
very late, commonly til twelve or one o'clock ; and his father 
ordered the maid to sitt up for him." MS. Ashmol Mus. ut 
supr. His early reading was in poetical books. Humphry Lownes, 
a printer, living in the same street with his father, supplied him at 
least with Spenser and Sylvester's Du Bartas. 



8 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



has annexed the date of his age. It has been un- 
candidly supposed, that he intended, by this method, 
to obtrude the earliness of his own proficiency on the 
notice of posterity. Dr. Johnson calls it " a boast, 
JLd ( of which Politian has given him an example." Mil- 
ton and Politian have followed classical authority. 
Lucan r thus speaks of himself: 

" Est mihi, crede, meis animus constantior annis, 
" Quamvis nunc juvenile decus mihi pingere malas 
" Cceperit, et nondum vicesima venerit sestas." 

But who will deny, that in these Translations the 
dawning of real genius may be discerned ; or that 
his Ode, On the Death of a fair Infant, written 
soon after, displays, as a poetical composition, the 
vigour and judgement of maturer life ? The verses 
also, At a Vacation Exercise in the College, 
written at the age of nineteen, have been repeatedly 
and justly noticed as containing indications of the 
future bard, " whose genius was equal to a subject 
that carried him beyond the limits of the world." 

Few readers will be inclined to admit that Cowley 
and other poets have surpassed, in " products of ver- 
nal fertility," the efforts of Milton. Nor will many 
regard, without aversion, the unfair s comparison of 
Milton's juvenile effusions with those of Chatterton. 
Milton, as he is the most learned of modern poets, 

r Lucanus de seipso, in Panegyrico ad Calpurnium Pisonem. 
Epigr. et Poem. Vet. Paris, 1590, p. 121. 

s In the Biograph. Brit. vol. iv. p. 591, edit. Kippis. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 9 

may perhaps retain his princely rank also in the list 
of those who have written valuable pieces at as early 
or an earlier age ; and Politian, Tasso, Cowley, Me- 
tastasio, Voltaire, and Pope, may bow to him, " as 
to superiour Spirits is due." 

In the 17th year of his age, distinguished as a 
classical scholar, and conversant in several languages, 
he was sent, from St. Paul's School, to Cambridge ; 
and was * admitted a Pensioner at Christ College on 
the 12th of February, 1624-5, under the tuition of 
Mr. William Chappel, afterwards Bishop of Cork 
and Ross in Ireland. Here he attracted particular 
notice by his academical exercises, as well as by 
several copies of verses, both Latin and English, 
upon occasional subjects. He neglected indeed no 
part of literature, although his chief object seems to 
have been the cultivation of his poetical abilities. 
" This good hap I had from a careful education," 
he says ; " to be inured and seasoned betimes with 
the best and elegantest authors of the learned 
tongues ; and thereto brought an ear that could 
measure a just cadence, and scan without articu- 
lating; rather nice and humourous in what was 
tolerable, than patient to read every drawling ver- 
sifier." 

* " Johannes Milton, Londinensis, films Johannis, institutus 
fuit in Literarum dementis sub Mag ro . Gill, Gymnasii Paulini 
Prsefecto, admissus est Pensionarius Minor Feb. 12°. 1624, sub 
M ro . Chappell, solvitque pro Ingr. 0. 10. 8." Extract from the 
College Register, 



10 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

To his eminent skill, at this time, in the Latin 
tongue Dr. Johnson affords his tribute of commen- 
dation. " Many of his elegies appear to have been 
written in his eighteenth year ; by which it appears 
that he had then read the Roman authors with nice 
discernment. I once heard Mr. Hampton, the trans- 
lator of Polybius, remark, what I think is true, that 
Milton was the first Englishman who, after the re- 
vival of letters, wrote Latin verses with classick ele- 
gance." Milton ? s Latin exercises, which he recited 
publickly, are also marked with characteristick ani- 
mation. From some remarkable passages in these, 
as Mr. Hayley observes, it appears " that he was 
first an object of partial severity, and afterwards 
of general admiration, in his college. He had dif- 
fered in opinion concerning a plan of academical 
studies with some persons of authority in his Col- 
lege, and thus excited their displeasure. He speaks 
of them as highly incensed against him; but ex- 
presses, with the most liberal sensibility, his surprise, 
delight, and gratitude, in finding that his enemies 
forgot their animosity to honour him with unexpected 
applause." 

But incidents unfavourable to the character of 
Milton, while a student at Cambridge, have been 
positively asserted to be contained in his own words ; 
and the poet has been summoned to prove his own 
flagellation and banishment in the following verses, 
in his first elegy : 



AttD WRITINGS OF MILTON. * 11 

" Jam nee arundiferum mihi cura revisere Camum, 

" Nee dudum vetiti me laris angit amor. — 
" Nee duri libet usque minas perferre Magistri, 

" C&teraque ingenio non subeunda meo." 
" Si sit hoc exilium patrias adiise penates, 

" Et vacuum curis otia grata sequi, 
" Non ego velprqfugi nomen sortemve recuso, 

" La&tus et exilii conditione fruor." 

On these lines I must introduce Mr. Warton's ob- 
servation. 

4 ■ The words vetiti laris, and afterwards exilium, 
will not suffer us to determine otherwise, than that 
Milton was sentenced to undergo a temporary re- 
moval or rustication from Cambridge. I will not 
suppose for any immoral irregularity. Dr. Bain- 
bridge, the Master, is reported to have been a very 
active disciplinarian : and this lover of liberty, we 
may presume, was as little disposed to submission 
and conformity in a college as in a state. When 
reprimanded and admonished, the pride of his tem- 
per, impatient of any sort of reproof, naturally broke 
forth into expressions of contumely and contempt 
against his governour. Hence he was punished. He 
is also said to have been whipped at Cambridge. 
See Life of Bathurst, p. 153. This has been re- 
probated and discredited, as a most extraordinary 
and improbable piece of severity. But in those days 
of simplicity and subordination, of roughness and 
rigour, this sort of punishment was much more com- 
mon, and consequently by no means so disgraceful 



12 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

and unseemly for a young man at the university, as 
it would be thought at present. We learn from 
Wood, that Henry Stubbe, a Student of Christ 
Church, Oxford, afterwards a partisan of Sir Henry 
Vane, e shewing himself too forward, pragmatical, 
and conceited,' was publickly whipped by the Censor 
in the college-hall. Ath. Oxon. vol. ii. p. 560. See 
also Life of Bathurst, p. 202. I learn from some 
manuscript papers of Aubrey the antiquary, who was 
a student of Trinity college Oxford, four years from 
1642, ( that at Oxford, and, I believe, at Cambridge, 
the rod was frequently used by the tutors and 
deans : and Dr. Potter, while a tutor of Trinity col- 
lege, I knew right well, whipt his pupil with his 
sword by his side, when he came to take his leave 
of him to go to the inns of court/ In the Statutes 
of the said college, given in 1556, the Scholars of 
the foundation are ordered to be whipped by the 
Deans, or Censors, even to their twentieth year. In 
the University Statutes at Oxford, compiled in 1635, 
ten years after Milton's admission at Cambridge, 
corporal punishment is to be inflicted on boys under 
sixteen. We are to recollect, that Milton, when he 
went to Cambridge, was only a boy of fifteen u . 
The author of an old pamphlet, Regicides no 
Saints nor Martyrs, says that Hugh Peters, while 
at Trinity college, Cambridge, was publickly and 



u Mr. Warton is mistaken in this assertion. Milton, when he 
went to Cambridge, was in his seventeenth year. But this will 
presently be more largely considered. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 13 

officially whipped in the Regent-walk for his inso- 
lence, p. 81. 

•* The anecdote of Milton's whipping at Cam- 
bridge, is told by Aubrey. MS. Mus. Aslim. Oxon. 
Num. x. P. iii. From which, by the way, Wood's 
Life of Milton in the Fasti Oxonienses, the first 
and the ground-work of all the lives of Milton, was 
compiled. Wood says, that he draws his account of 
Milton * from his own mouth to my Friend, who was 
well acquainted with and had from him, and from 
his relations after his death, most of this account of 
his life and writings following/ Ath. Oxon. vol. i. 
Fasti, p. 262. This Friend is Aubrey ; whom 
Wood, in another place, calls credulous, * roving 
and magotie-headed, and sometimes little better 
than erased.' Life of A. Wood, p. 577. edit. 
Hearne, Th. Caii Vind. &c. vol. ii. This was after 
a quarrel. I know not that Aubrey is ever fantas- 
tical, except on the subjects of chemistry and ghosts. 
Nor do I remember that his veracity was ever im- 
peached. I believe he had much less credulity than 
Wood. Aubrey's Monumenta Britannica is a very 
solid and rational work, and its judicious conjectures 
and observations have been approved and adopted 
by the best modern antiquaries. Aubrey's manu- 
script Life contains some anecdotes of Milton yet 
unpublished. £Since published in 1815 by Mr. 
Godwin in his Lives of Milton's Nephews.]] 

" But let us examine if the context will admit 



34 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

some other interpretation. Cceteraque, the most 
indefinite and comprehensive of descriptions, may be 
thought to mean literary tasks called impositions, 
or frequent eompulsive attendances on tedious and 
unimproving exercises in a college-hall. But ccetera 
follows minas, and perferre seems to imply some- 
what more than these inconveniences, something that 
was suffered, and severely felt. It has been sug- 
gested, that his father's economy prevented his con- 
stant residence at Cambridge ; and that this made 
the college lar dudum vetitus, and his absence from 
the university an exilium. But it was no unpleas- 
ing or involuntary banishment. He hated the place. 
He was not only offended at the college-discipline, 
but had even conceived a dislike to the face of the 
country, the fields about Cambridge. He peevishly 
complains, that the fields have no soft shades to at- 
tract the Muse ; and there is something pointed in 
his exclamation, that Cambridge was a place quite 
incompatible with the votaries of Phoebus. Here a 
father's prohibition had nothing to do. He resolves, 
however, to forget all these disagreeable circum- 
stances, and to return in due time. The dismission, 
if any, was not to be perpetual. In these lines, in- 
genium is to be rendered temper, nature, disposi- 
tion, rather than genius. 

" Aubrey says, from the information of our au- 
thor's brother Christopher, that Milton's ' first tutor 
there [[at Christ's college^] was Mr. Chappell, from 
whom receiving some unkindnesse, (he whipt him) 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 15 

he was afterwards, though it seemed against the 
rules of the college, transferred to the tuition of one 
Mr. Tovell x , who dyed parson of Lutterworth.' MS. 
Mus. Ashm. ut s'upr. This information, which stands 
detached from the body of Aubrey's narrative, seems 
to have been communicated to Aubrey, after Wood 
had seen his papers ; it therefore does not appear in 
Wood, who never would otherwise have suppressed 
an anecdote which contributed in the least degree to 
expose the character of Milton. I must here observe, 
that Mr. Chappell, from his original Letters, many 
of which I have seen, written while he was a fellow 
and tutor of Christ's College, and while Milton was 
there, and which are now in the possession of Mr. 
Moreton of Westerham in Kent, by whom they have 
been politely communicated, appears to have been a 
man of uncommon mildness and liberality of manners." 

To the authority of the preceding remarks Dr. 
Johnson has implicitly subscribed ; not without add- 
ing, however, that it may be conjectured, from the 
willingness with which the poet has perpetuated the 
memory of his exile, that its cause was such as gave 
him no shame. 

That flagellation might be performed upon of- 
fenders at Cambridge, (as well as at Oxford,) the 
Statutes of that university will show : That Milton 



x It should be Tovey. I have seen the signature of his name 
to some resolutions of his college. 



16 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

suffered this publick indignity, rests solely upon the 
testimony of Aubrey, which I am unable to con- 
trovert : But it is remarkable that it never should 
have been noticed by those who would have rejoiced 
in such an opportunity of exposing Milton to a little 
ridicule. Yet further. It is related by Mr. Warton, 
that, " in the University Statutes at Oxford, com- 
piled in 1635, ten years after Milton's admission at 
Cambridge, corporal punishment is to be inflicted on 
boys under sixteen. We are to recollect, that Milton, 
when he went to Cambridge, was only a boy of fif- 
teen' 9 This is a mistake. Milton was in his seven- 
teenth y year, when he was admitted at Christ's 
College. And if the same exemption was granted 
to boys of sixteen at Cambridge, as to those of the 
same age at Oxford, the flagellation of Milton be- 
comes still less entitled to credit. One of the statutes 
of Christ's College, entitled Cap. 37. De Lectoris 
Authoritate in Discipulos, seems to countenance 
the supposition of similar exemption : After prescrib- 
ing that they, who absent themselves from certain 
Lectures, shall he fined, the Statute subjoins the fol- 
lowing reservation ; " si tamsn adultus f Merit ; 
alioquin, virgd corrigatur." 

The application also of cetera may be perhaps 
more general than Mr. Warton and Dr. Johnson 
have been pleased to consider it ; instead of corporal 
punishment, it may suggest the idea of academical 

y See the Extract from the College Register, p. 9. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTOW 17 

restrictions, to which a youth of Milton's genius 
could not submit; or merely of threats perhaps, 
which he thought he did not deserve; and, if he 
therefore acquiesced in a short exile from Cambridge, 
as some biographers suppose, it should seem that, by 
his admission to the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 
1628, he had incurred no loss of terms ; which rus- 
tication however must have occasioned, and which 
the Register of his College, or of the University, 
would probably have noticed. His reply to an enemy, 
who in the violence of controversy had asserted that 
he was expelled, may here be cited. Z(( I must be 
thought if this libeller (for now he shews himself to 
be so) can find belief, after an inordinate and riotous 
youth spent at the University, to have been at 
length vomited out thence. For which commodious 
lye, that he may be encouraged in the trade another 
time, I thank him ; for it hath given me an apt oc- 
casion to acknowledge publickly, with all gratefull 
mind, that more than ordinary favour and respect 
which I found above any of my equals at the hands 
of those courteous and learned men, the fellows of 
the College wherein I spent some years ; who at my 
parting, after I had taken two degrees, as the manner 
is, signified many ways, how much better it would 
content them that I would stay ; as by many letters, 
full of kindness and loving respect, both before that 
time, and long after, I was assured of their singular 



z Apology for Smeetymnuus. Prose-Works, vol. i. p. 174, 
edit. 1698. 



18 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

good affection towards me." And still more point- 
edly in another place : a " Pater me Cantabri- 

giam misit : Illic disciplinis atque artibus tradi solitis 
septennium studui; procul omniflagitio, bonis om- 
nibus probatus, usquedum magistri, quern vocant, 
gradum," &c. 

To oblige one of the fellows, his friends so affec- 
tionately noticed, he wrote, in 1628, the comitial 
verses, entitled Naturam non pati senium. I men- 
tion this in order to obviate a remark made by Dr. 
Johnson, that the poet countenanced an opinion, 
prevalent in his time, " that the world was in its 
decay, and that we had the misfortune to be pro- 
duced in the decrepitude of nature." In the pre- 
ceding year the following very learned work had 
been published, " An Apologie or Declaration of 
the Power and Providence of God in the Govern- 
ment of the World, by George Hakewill, D.D. and 
Archdeacon of Surrey, 1627." The young poet, I 
conceive, had been much pleased with this excellent 
work, which refutes, with particular felicity of argu- 
ment, the absurdity of supposing nature impaired. 
This forgotten folio has found an able advocate in 
modern days. " They," says Dr. Warton, b " whom 
envy, malevolence, discontent, or disappointment, 
have induced to think that the world is totally dege- 
nerated, and that it is daily growing worse and 



a Defens. Sec. Prose- Works, vol. iii. p. 95, edit. 1698. 
" Pope's Works, edit. 1797. vol. iv. p. 319. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 19 

worse, would do well to read a sensible, but too 
much neglected, treatise of an old Divine, written in 
c 1630, Hake will's Apology &c.'' This work was 
commended too by Archbishop d Usher. A truly ami- 
able and learned author, it may here be added, to 
whom the literature of this country is peculiarly in- 
debted, has closed his Philological Inquiries with 
a chapter, well calculated, like the animated lines of 
Milton, to banish the timid and unbenevolent idea 
of nature's decrepitude. 

Milton was designed by his parents, and once in 
his own resolutions, for the Church. But his subse- 
quent unwillingness to engage in the office of a mi- 
nister was communicated to a friend in a letter ; (of 
which two draughts exist in e manuscript ;) with 
which he sent his impressive Sonnet, On his being 
arrived at the age of twenty-three. The truth is, 
Dr. Newton says, he had conceived early prejudices 
against the doctrine and discipline of the Church. 
This, no doubt, was a disappointment to his friends, 
who though in comfortable were yet by no means 
in great circumstances. Nor does he seem to have 



c This is the second edition of the work, which Dr. Warton 
seems not to have known. 

d See a Letter from Dr. Hake will to Archbishop Usher, in 
the Life and Letters of Usher by R. Parr, D.D. fol. 1686. 
Letters, p. 398. 

e See Birch's Life of Milton, Dr. Newton's edit, of Milton, 
Sonnet vii. General Dictionary, 1738, vol. vii. And Biograph, 
Brit. 1760, vol. v. Art. Milton, where they are printed. 

c 2 



20 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

been disposed to any profession. It is certain that 
he also declined the f Law. He had probably read, 
with no slight attention, the conduct of Tasso, as 
described by the noble biographer to whom he has 
addressed his admired eclogue : 

" g II qual poema pi Rinaldo] mando egli fuori 
per voler del Cardinal Luigi da Este ; e con poco 
piacer di suo padre ; il quale non haurebbe cid per 
due ragioni desiderato. Primieramente percioche 
Bernardo non rimaneua appagato, che l'animo del 
giouanetto s'appigliasse alia piaceuolezza della po- 
esia, per che non deuiasse (come aduienne) dallo 
studio delle leggi dal qual' egli speraua maggiori 
comodi con 1'essempio in contrario di se medesimo, 
che per molto, e per bene c' hauesse, et in versi, et in 
prosa saputo scriuere, non potette giammai pero 
auanzare la mezzanita della sua fortuna ne difen- 
dersi dalla rea : nella qual cosa malageuolmente Tor- 
quato T obediua, tirato altroue dal proprio genio, 
come ne' versi che seguono dietro a que' che detti 
habbiamo, si legge : 



f His contempt of the Law, as well as of the Church, is rather 
strongly marked, as in his Verses Ad Patrem~\er. 71, &c. To 
the ecclesiastical lawyers he has shown no mercy ; but alludes to 
" chancellours and suffragans, delegates and officials, with all 
the hell-pestering rabble of sumners and apparitors," in the very 
spirit of Quevedo. See his Animadversions, &c. Prose- Works, 
vol. i. p. 159, edit. 1698. 

e Vita di Torq. Tasso, scritta da G. B. Manso, 12 mo . Venet. 
1621, p. 32, 33. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 21 

Ad altri studi, onde poi speme hauea 
Di ristorar d'auuersa sorte i danni, 
Ingrati studi, dal cui pondo oppresso, 
Giaccio ignoto ad altrui graue a me stesso." 

Rinaldo, Canto xii. st. 90. 

Dr. Newton thinks that he had too free a spirit to 
be limited and confined ; that he was for compre- 
hending all sciences, but professing none. His con- 
duct, however, on these occasions is a proof of the 
sincerity with which he had resolved to deliver his 
sentiments. " h For me, I have determined to lay 
up as the best treasure and solace of a good old age, 
if God vouchsafe it me, the honest liberty of free 
speech from my youth." 

Having taken the degree of ! M.A. in 1632, he 
left the university, and retired to his father's house 
in the country ; who had now quitted business, and 
lived at an estate which he had purchased at Horton 
near Colnebrooke, in Buckinghamshire. Here he 
resided five years ; in which time he not only, as he 
himself informs us, read over the Greek and Latin 
authors, particularly the historians, but is also be- 
lieved to have written his Arcades, Comns, & Alle- 
gro, II Penseroso, and Lycidas. The pleasant 
retreat in the country excited his most poetick feel- 
ings ; and he has proved himself able, in his pictures. 

h Prose- Works, vol. i. p. 220, edit. 1698. 
1 He was admitted to the same degree at Oxford in 1635. 
See Wood, Fasti, vol. i. p. 262, 



22 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

of rural life, to rival the works of Nature which he 
contemplated with delight. In the neighbourhood 
of Horton the Countess Dowager of Derby resided ; 
and the Arcades was performed by her grand- 
children at this seat, called Harefield-place. It seems 
to me, that Milton intended a compliment to his fair 
neighbour in his V Allegro ; 

" Towers and battlements it sees 
" Bosom'd high in tufted trees, 
" Where perhaps some Beauty lies, 
" The Cynosure of neighbouring eyes." 

The woody scenery of k Harefield, and the personal 
accomplishments of the Countess, are not unfavour- 
able to this supposition ; which, if admitted, tends to 
confirm the opinion, that U Allegro and II Pense- 
roso were composed at Horton. 

The Mask of Comus, and Lycidas, were certainly 
produced under the roof of his father. It may be 
observed that, after his retirement to private study, 
he paid great attention, like his master Spenser, to 
the Italian school of poetry. Dr. Johnson remarks, 
that his acquaintance with the Italian writers may 
be discovered by the mixture of longer and shorter 
verses in Lycidas, according to the rules of Tuscan 
poetry. In Comus also the sweet rhythm and ca- 
dence of the Italian language are no less observable. 
I must here mention that the house, in which Milton 

k See Lysons's Middlesex, 1800. Hare/ield, p. 108. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 23 

drew such enchanting scenes, was about 1 the year 
1798 pulled down; and that, during his residence at 
Horton, he had occasionally taken lodgings in Lon- 
don, in order to cultivate musick and mathematicks, 
to meet his friends from Cambridge, and to indulge 
his passion for books. 

It seems to have been the notion, however, of the 
late Sir William Jones, that we are indebted, not to 
Horton, but to Forest Hill, for Milton's descriptive 
pictures of the country. That accomplished scholar 
has thus delivered his opinion in a letter to Lady 
Spencer, dated from Oxford, Sept. 7, 1769. 

" m The necessary trouble of correcting the first 
printed sheets of my history, prevented me to-day 
from paying a proper respect to the memory of 
Shakspeare, by attending his jubilee. But I was 
resolved to do all the honour in my power to as 
great a poet ; and set out in the morning in com- 
pany with a friend to visit a place, where Milton 
spent some part of his life, and where, in all pro- 
bability, lie composed several of his earliest pro- 
ductions. It is a small village on a pleasant hill, 
about three miles from Oxford, called Forest Hill, 
because it formerly lay contiguous to a forest, which 
has since been cut down. The poet chose this place 
of retirement after his first marriage, and he describes 

1 As I was obligingly informed by letter in 1808 from the Rec- 
tor of Horton. 

m Lord Teignmouth's Life of Sir William Jones, 8vo. edit. p. 83. 



24 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the beauties of his retreat, in that fine passage of his 
L' Allegro : 

" Sometime walking, not unseen, 

" By hedge-row elms, on hillocks green, — 

'? While the plowman near at hand, 

" Whistles o'er the furrow'd land, 

" And the milk-maid singeth blithe, 

" And the mower whets his si the ; 

n And every shepherd tells his tale 

" Under the hawthorn in the dale. 

" Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures, 

" Whilst the landskip round it measures ; 

" Russet lawns, and fallows gray, 

" Where the nibbling flocks do stray ; 

" Mountains, on whose barren breast 

" The labouring clouds do often rest^ 

" Meadows trim with daisies pide, 

" Shallow brooks, and rivers wide : 

" Towers and battlements it sees 

" Bosom'd high in tufted trees — 

" Hard by, a cottage chimney smoaks, 

" From betwixt two aged oaks, &c. 

" It was neither the proper season of the year, nor 
time of the day, to hear all the rural sounds, and see 
all the objects mentioned in this description ; but, by 
a pleasing concurrence of circumstances, we were sa- 
luted, on our approach to the village, with the musick 
of the mower and his scythe ; we saw the ploughman 
intent upon his labour, and the milk-maid returning 
from her country employment. 

" As we ascended the hill, the variety of beautiful 
objects, the agreeable stillness and natural simplicity 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 25 

of the whole scene, gave us the highest pleasure. We 
at length reached the spot, whence Milton undoubt- 
edly took most of his images ; it is on the top of 
the hill, from which there is a most extensive pros- 
pect on all sides : the distant mountains that seemed 
to support the clouds, the villages and turrets, partly- 
shaded with trees of the finest verdure, and partly 
raised above the groves that surrounded them, the 
dark plains and meadows of a greyish colour, where 
the sheep were feeding at large, in short, the view of 
the streams and rivers, convinced us that there was 
not a single useless or idle word in the above-men- 
tioned description, but that it was a most exact and 
lively representation of nature. Thus will this fine 
passage, which has always been admired for its ele- 
gance, receive an additional beauty from its exact- 
ness. After we had walked, with a kind of poetical 
enthusiasm, over this enchanted ground, we returned 
to the village. 

" The poet's house was close to the church ; the 
greatest part of it has been pulled down ; and what 
remains, belongs to an adjacent farm. I am informed 
that several papers in Milton's own hand were found 
by the gentleman w r ho was last in possession of the 
estate. The tradition of his having lived there is 
current among the villagers : one of them shewed us 
a ruinous wall that made part of his chamber, and 
I was much pleased with another who had forgotten 
the name of Milton, but recollected him by the title 
of The Poet. 



26 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" It must not be omitted, that the groves near 
this village are famous for nightingales, which are so 
elegantly described in the Penseroso. Most of the 
cottage windows are overgrown with sweet-briars, 
vines, and honey-suckles ; and, that Milton's habita- 
tion had the same rustick ornament, we may conclude 
from his description of the lark bidding him good- 
morrow, 

" Through the sweet-briar or the vine, 
"Or the twisted eglantine ; 

for it is evident, that he meant a sort of honey-suckle 
by the eglantine ; though that word is commonly 
used for the sweet-briar, which he could not mention 
twice in the same couplet. 

" If ever I pass a month or six weeks at Oxford 
in the summer, I shall be inclined to hire and repair 
this venerable mansion, and to make a festival for a 
circle of friends, in honour of Milton, the most per- 
fect scholar, as well as the sublimest poet, that our 
country ever produced. Such an honour will be less 
splendid, but more sincere and respectful, than all 
the pomp and ceremony on the banks of the Avon." 

If Milton resided at Forest Hill, it must have 
been at a time far distant from the composition of 
L" Allegro and II Penseroso. The tradition that 
he did reside at this beautiful and beautifully de- 
scribed village, is indeed " general ; though none of 

" Madame du Bocage, in her entertaining Letters concerning 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 27 

his biographers assert the circumstance. But Sir 
William Jones represents him to have chosen this 
place of retirement, after his first marriage. Now 
Milton, we find, was not married before 1643, at 
which time he was in his thirty-fifth year; when, 
about Whitsuntide or a little after, " he ° took a 
journey," says his nephew Phillips, " into the coun- 
try ; nobody about him certainly knowing the reason, 
or that it was more than a journey of recreation : 
after a month's stay, home he returns a married man 
that went out a batchelor ; his wife being Mary, the 
eldest daughter of Mr. Richard Powell, then a justice 
of peace, of Foresthil, near Shotover, in Oxfordshire." 
Anthony Wood relates also, that Milton courted, mar- 
ried, and brought his wife to his house in London, in 
one month's time ; and that she was very young. She 
continued, however, but a few weeks with her hus- 
band, and p returned to Forest Hill. Milton, as we 
shall presently see, disdained to follow her thither. 
After their reconciliation, it is possible that he might 
revisit the dwelling from which he had brought her, 
even before the seizure of it by the rebels in 1646. 

England, &c. relates that, visiting, in June 1750, Baron Schutz 
and Lady at their house near Shotover Hill, " they shewed me 
from a small eminence Milton s house, to which I bowed with 
all the reverence with which that poet's memory inspires me." 

Life of Milton, p. xxii. 

p See Mr. Warton's note on the Nuncupative Will of Milton, in 
this account of the poet's Life, relating to Forest Hill ; and also 
the documents in regard to Mr. Powell's property there, and in 
the neighbourhood, now first given, in a subsequent portion of 
these pages, from his Majesty's State-Paper-Office. 



28 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Then too, in order to some arrangement of her loyal 
father's affairs, (for in those affairs he will soon be 
found to have been concerned with the ruling party,) 
it is indeed probable, that thither he might go for a 
short period. However, this concedes nothing to the 
assertion of L 'Allegro being composed at Forest 
Hill. The early poems of Milton were written, I ap- 
prehend, long before the date of his first marriage ; 
and, as I have already stated, most probably at 
Horton ; a point in which Mr. Hayley concurs with 
me, at least in respect to L' Allegro and 27 Pense- 
roso. In the collection of these poems into a volume, 
which was published by Moseley in 1645, and of which 
more will presently be said, & Allegro and II Pen- 
seroso precede both Lycidas and Comus in the ar- 
rangement ; both of which refer to matters of a much 
earlier date than 1640. But, not to insist on this 
circumstance, Moseley in his Address to the Reader, 
says, " q The author's more peculiar excellency in 
these studies was too well known to conceal his 
papers, or to keep me from attempting to sollicit 
them from him." So that Milton, we see, had con- 
cealed these papers, till he was solicited to permit 
them, with Lycidas and Comus already printed, to 
appear in one volume. I must observe also that 
Milton tells his friend Rouse, in presenting to him 
this collection of his poems, that they were the pro- 
ductions of his r early youth. 

9 Milton's Poems, ed. 1645, 12 mo . sign. a. 4. 
r " Gemelle cultu simplici gaudens liber, 
" Fronde licet gemina, 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 29 

Milton, however, might compose at Forest Hill, 
or in the neighbourhood of it, as some have thought, 
part of his later productions. But sufficient autho- 
rity is wanting, upon which to assert a fact so in- 
teresting. Mr. Warton indeed tells us, that he had 
seen in Mr. Powell's house at Forest Hill, many 
papers, which showed the active part he had taken 
in favour of the Royalists ; but that Mr. Mickle, 
the ingenious translator of the Lusiad, had there 
searched in vain for any of Milton's papers or 
letters. 

A pretended romantick circumstance in Milton's 
younger days has been publickly mentioned, as having 
formed the first impulse of his Italian journey, and 
as the parent too of some of his poetry ! In the 
General Evening Post of 1789 it is believed to 
have appeared ; in which, or in any other journal, 
however, I had not, before the first edition of this 
account was published, discovered it. The marvel- 
lous anecdote was afterwards obligingly transmitted 
to me, exactly as it appeared in a Newspaper, (the 
Italian citation only being here corrected,) of which 
the date does not appear ; and for which I was in- 
debted, through the late Mr. Bindley, to M. Whish, 
Esq. 

u Munditieque nitens non operosa ; 

" Quern manus attulit 

" Juvenilis olim, 

" Sedula tamen baud nimii poetae," &c. 



30 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" Believing that the following real circumstance 
has been but little noticed, we submit the particulars 
of it, as not uninteresting, to the attention of our 
readers : — s It is well known that, in the bloom of 
youth, and when he pursued his studies at Cam- 
bridge, this poet was extremely beautiful. ;\ Wander- 
ing, one day, during the summer, far beyond the 
precincts of the University, into the country, he be- 
came so heated and fatigued, that, reclining himself 
at the foot of a tree to rest, he shortly fell asleep. 
Before he awoke, two ladies, who were foreigners, 
passed by in a carriage. Agreeably astonished at 
the loveliness of his appearance, they alighted, and 
having admired him (as they thought) unperceived, 
for some time, the youngest, who was very hand- 
some, drew a pencil from her pocket, and having 
written some lines upon a piece of paper, put it with 
her trembling hand into his own. Immediately 
afterwards they proceeded on their journey. Some 
of his acquaintances, who were in search of him, 
had observed this silent adventure, but at too great 
a distance to discover that the highly-favoured party 
in it was our illustrious bard. Approaching nearer, 
they saw their friend, to whom, being awakened, 

s This narrative is not singular : an exact and older coun- 
terpart may be found, as the late J. C. Walker, Esq. pointed 
out to me, in the Preface to Poesies de Marguerite-Eleanore 
Clotilde, depuis Madame de Surville, Po'ete Francois du xv. 
Steele. Par. 1 803. The anecdote has been elegantly versified 
in the Original Sonnets, &c. of Anna Seward. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 31 

they mentioned what had happened. Milton opened 
the paper, and, with surprise, read these verses from 
Guarini : ^Madrigal, xii. ed. 1598.]] 

* Occhi, stelle mortali, 
' Ministre de miei mali, — 
' Se chiusi m* vccidete, 
' Aperti chef arete V 

" c Ye eyes ! ye human stars ! ye authors of my 
liveliest pangs ! If thus, when shut, ye wound me, 
what must have proved the consequence had ye been 
open ?' Eager, from this moment, to find out the 
fair incognita, Milton travelled, but in vain, through 
every part of Italy. His poetick fervour became in- 
cessantly more and more heated by the idea which 
he had formed of his unknown admirer ; and it is, 
in some degree, to her that his own times, the 
present times, and the latest posterity must feel 
themselves indebted for several of the most im- 
passioned and charming compositions of the Paradise 
Lost." 

On the death of his mother in 1637, Milton pre- 
vailed with his father to permit Turn to visit the con- 
tinent. This permission Mr. Hayley supposes to 
have been " the more readily granted, as one of his 
motives for visiting Italy was to form a collection of 
Italian musick." His nephew Phillips indeed re- 
lates, that, while at Venice, he shipped a parcel of 
curious and rare books which he had collected in 



32 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

his travels ; particularly a chest or two of choice 
musick-books of the best masters flourishing about 
that time in Italy. Having obtained some directions 
for his travels from Sir Henry Wotton, to whom 
he had communicated his earnest desire of seeing 
foreign countries, he went in 1638, attended with 
a single servant, to Paris ; where, by the favour 
of Lord Scudamore, he was introduced to Grotius. 
Of this interview, although the numerous letters 
of Grotius afford no trace, Milton's nephew gives 
the following account ; Grotius took the visit 
kindly, and gave him entertainment suitable to his 
worth and the high commendations he had heard 
of him. 

Having been presented, by Lord Scudamore, with 
letters of recommendation to the English merchants 
in the several places through which he intended to 
travel, he went, after staying a few days in Paris, 
directly to Nice, where he embarked for Genoa. 
From Genoa he proceeded to Leghorn, Pisa, and 
Florence. The delights of Florence detained him 
there two months. His compositions and conver- 
sation were so much admired, that he was a most 
welcome guest in the academies, (as in Italy the 
meetings of the most polite and ingenious persons 
were denominated,) held in that city. He has af- 
fectionately recorded the l names of these Italian 

Tui enim Jacobe Gaddi, Carole Dati, Frescobalde, Cul- 






AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 33 

friends ; and has expressed his obligations to their 
honourable distinctions. Dati u presented him with 
a Latin eulogy ; and Francini with an Italian ode. 
A few years since, Mr. Brand accidentally discovered 
on a book-stall, a manuscript which he purchased, 
entitled La Tina, by Antonio Malatesti, not yet 
enumerated, x Mr. Warton says, among Milton's 
friends. It is dedicated by the author to John Mil- 
ton while at Florence. Mr. Brand gave it to Mr. 
Hollis, who, in 1758, sent it together with Milton's 
works, both in poetry and prose, and his Life by 
Toland, to the Academy Delia Crusca. The manu- 
script, as Mr. Warton observes, would have been a 



telline, Bommatthaee, Clementille, Francine, aliorumque plurium 
memoriam apud me semper gratam atque jucundam, nulla dies 
delebit." Defens. Sec. Prose- Works, vol. iii. p. 96, edit. 1698. 
It is to one of these friends that he professes his love of the Italian 
language. " Ego certe istis utrisque linguis [Greek and Latin] 
non extremis tantummod6 labris madidus; sed, siquis alius, 
quantum per annos licuit, poculis majoribus prolutus, possum 
tamen nonnunquam ad ilium Dantem et Petrarcam, aliosque 
vestros complusculos, libenter et cupide comessatum ire.'' Epist. 
B. Bommathceo. Prose- Works, vol. iii. p. 325, ed. 1698. 

u Rolli has made the following remark on the commendatory 
notices of his countrymen. M Osservissi nelle lodi dagl' Italiani 
date a questo grand Uomo ; com' essi fin d' allora scorgevano in 
lui 1' alta forza d'Ingegno che lo portava al primo Auge di gloria 
letteraria nel suo Secolo e nella sua Nazione ; e gliene facevano 
gli awerati Prognostici." Vita di Milton, 1735. Dennis pays 
much compliment to the discernment of the Italians who dis- 
covered, while Milton was among them, his great and growing- 
genius. See his Original Letters, &c. 1721, vol. i. p. 78, 80. 

* Milton's Smaller Poems, 2d edit. p. 555. But Milton men- 
tions this friend in a letter to Carlo Dati, Epist. Fam. x. 



34 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

greater curiosity in England. And, since my ac- 
count of the Life of the poet was published in 1809, 
I learn that it had found its way back to this country, 
had become the property of a gentleman whose 
books were not long since sold by Mr. Evans of 
Pall-Mall, and that the full title of the manuscript 
is, " La Tina, Equivoci Rusticali di Antonio Mala- 
testi, coposti nella sua villa di Taiano il Septembre 
dell' anno 1637. Sonetti Cinquata. Dedicati all' 
Ill mo . Signore et Padrone Oss mo . il Signor Gio- 
vanni Milton, NobiV InghileseT 

Milton became acquainted also with the celebrated 
Galileo, whom many biographers have represented 
as in prison when the poet visited him. But Mr. 
Walker has informed me that Galileo was never a 
prisoner in the inquisition at Florence, although a 
prisoner of it. On his arrival at Rome on Febru- 
ary the 10th, 1632, that illustrious philosopher had 
surrendered himself to Urban, who ordered him to 
be confined for his philosophical heresy in the palace 
of the Trinita de' Monti. Here he remained five 
months. Having retracted his opinion, he was dis- 
missed from Rome ; and the house of Monsignor 
Piccolomini in Sienna was assigned to him as his 
prison. About the beginning of December, in 1635, 
he was liberated ; and returned to the village of Bel- 
loguardo near Florence, whence he went to Arcetri, 
where, it is probable, he received the visit of the 
English bard, Milton himself has informed us that 
he had really seen Galileo ; and Rolli, in his Life of 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 35 

the poet, y considers some ideas in the Paradise 
Lost, approaching towards the Newtonian philo- 
sophy, to have been caught at Florence from Galileo 
or his disciples. 

From Florence he passed through Sienna to Rome, 
where he also stayed two months ; feasting, as Dr. 
Newton well observes, both his eyes and his mind, 
and delighted with the fine paintings, and sculptures, 
and other rarities and antiquities, of the city. It has 
been judiciously conjectured, that several of the im- 
mortal works of the finest painters and statuaries 
may be traced in Milton's poetry. They are sup- 
posed by Mr. Hayley to have had considerable in- 
fluence in attaching his imagination to our first pa- 
rents. " He had most probably contemplated them," 
the elegant writer continues, " not only in the co- 
lours of Michael Angelo, who decorated Rome with 
his picture of the creation, but in the marble of 
Bandinelli, who had executed two large statues of 
Adam and Eve, which, though they were far from 
satisfying the taste of connoisseurs, might stimulate 
even by their imperfections the genius of a poet." 
The description of the creation in the third book of 
Paradise Lost, (ver. 708, 719,) is supposed by 
z Mr. Walker to be copied from the same subject as 

y " In Firenze certamente egli apprese dagli Scritti e dalle 
Massime del Galileo invalorite gia ne' di lui Seguaci, quelle No- 
zioni filosofiche sparse poi nel Poema, che tanto si uniformano 
al Sistema del Cavalier Newton." Vita, &c. 1735. 

z Hist. Mem. on Italian Tragedy, p, 166. 

d 2 



36 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

treated by Raphael in the gallery of the Vatican, 
called " la Bibbia di Raffaello." There are indeed 
several interesting pictures relating to Adam and 
Eve in the Florence collection, together with " the 
fall of Lucifer" supposed to be the work of Michael 
Angelo, which Milton might have also seen. Mr. 
Dunster ingeniously a conjectures the Paradise Re- 
gained to have been enriched by the suggestions of 
Salvator Rosa's masterly painting of The Tempta- 
tion. The genius of Milton seems indeed to have 
resembled more particularly that of Michael Angelo. 
It is worthy of notice, as it shows a strong coinci- 
dence of taste in the poet and the painter, that 
Michael Angelo was particularly struck with Dante ; 
and that he is said to have b sketched with a pen, on 
the margin of his copy of the Inferno, every striking 
scene of the terrible and the pathetick ; but this va- 
luable curiosity was unfortunately lost in a ship- 
wreck. The learned author of " Tableaux tires de 
T Iliade, de 1' Odyssee d' Homere, et de 1' Eneide 
de Virgile," was never more mistaken than in sup- 
posing the Paradise Lost incapable of supplying an 
artist with scenes as graceful and sublime as can be 
met with in the poems of the Grecian and Roman 
bards : for, in the words of Mr. Hay ley, there is no 
charm exhibited by painting, which Milton's poetry 
has failed to equal, as far as analogy between the 



a Addition to his edit, of Par. Reg. 1800. 
b See " A Sketch of the Lives and Writings of Dante and 
Petrarch, 1790/' p. 31. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 37 

different arts can extend. Indeed the numerous ex- 
ercises for the painter's skill,, which Milton's works 
afford, have, in later times, commanded due atten- 
tion ; and Fuseli, by his happy sketches from such 
originals, has taught us how to admire poetry and 
painting " breathing united force" 

At Rome Milton was honoured with the acquaint- 
ance of several learned men, more especially with 
that of Holstenius, keeper of the Vatican library. 
By him he was introduced to Cardinal Barberini, 
the c patron Cardinal of the English ; who, at an 
d entertainment of musick, performed at his own ex- 

c I learn from a manuscript of Dr. Bargrave, (preserved in the 
Library of Canterbury Cathedral,) that, " at Rome, euery for- 
raigne Nation hath some Cardinall or other to be their -peculiar 
Gardian : when I was 4 seuerall times at Rome," Dr. Bargrave 
says, " this Cardinall Barberini was Gardian to the English" 
He adds, " When I was at Rome with the Earle of Chesterfield, 
then under my tuition, 1650, at a yeare of Jubilee, this Cardinall 
(formerly kinde to me) would not admitt my lord or myselfe to 
any audience, though, in eleuen months time, tryed seuerall 
times ; and I heard that it was, because that we had recommenda- 
tory letters from our Queen Mother to Cardinall Capponius, and 
another from the Dutchess of Sauoy to' Cardinall Penzirolo; and 
no letters to him, who was the English {I say Rebells) Pro- 
tector ; and that we visited them before him." 

d Mr. Warton says, that Milton heard the accomplished Leo- 
nora Baroni sing at the concerts of this Cardinal, and that there 
is a volume of Greek, Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish poems, 
printed at Rome, in praise of this lady. I have sought in vain 
for this curious volume ; as have two or three literary friends, 
both abroad and at home. I must observe however that this book 
is described, in the Barberini collection, as printed at Bracciano* 
Index Bib. Barberin. fol. 1681. torn. i. p. 114. 



38 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

pence, waited for him at the door, and condescended 
to lead him into the assembly. Milton did not forget 
the extraordinary civilities of this accomplished Car- 
dinal. In thanking Holstenius afterwards for all his 
favours to him, he adds e " De csetero, novo beneficio 
devinxeris, si f Eminentissimum Cardinalem quanta 
potest observantia meo nomine salutes, cujus magnse 
virtutes, rectique studium, ad provehendas item omnes 
artes liberales egregie comparatum, semper mihi ob 
oculos versatur." At Rome also, Selvaggi and Salsilli 
praised the attainments of Milton in those verses, 
which are prefixed to his Latin poetry. 

e Lit. Lucse Holstenio, dat. Florent. Mart. 30. 1639, Prose- 
Works, vol. iii. p. 327, edit. 1698. 

f Milton, it may be observed, is careful not to omit the title 
first applied to the Cardinals by Barberini : since whose time, Dr. 
Bargrave relates, " the title of Padrone continueth to the Pope's 
chiefe Nephew, and the title of Eminenza to all the Cardinalls. 
Indeed the authority which Urban VIII. gave to Francisco [Bar- 
berini, his eldest Nephew,] was not ordinary; for he thought it 
not enough to giue the powre, except he gaue it the vanety and 
title of Padrone, that is, Master and Lord, a title never heard of 
before at Rome. But Urban had nothing in his mouth but the 
Cardinall Padrone : Where is the Cardinall Padrone ? Call the 
Cardinall Padrone : Speake to the Cardinall Padrone ; Nothing 
was heard of but the Cardinall Padrone ; which the embassadors 
of Princes did not like, saying they had no Padrone but the Pope 
himselfe. However theire [the Barberinis'] ambition stayed not 
at this title : they tooke exceptions of the quality of Illustrissimo, 
with which hitherto the Cardinalls had binn content for so many 
ages. The title of Excellency belonging to soveraine Princes in 
Italy, they strove to find out something that should not be in- 
feriour to it ; and, canvassing many titles, at length they pitched 
upon Eminency, which the Princes hearing of, they took upon 
themselves the title of Highness." MS. as before. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 39 

He next removed to Naples, in company with a 
hermit ; to whom Milton owed his introduction to 
the patron of Tasso, Manso, marquis of Villa, a 
nobleman distinguished by his virtue and his learning. 
To this eminent person he was obliged in many im- 
portant instances ; and, as a testimony of gratitude, 
he presented to him, at liis departure from Naples, 
his beautiful eclogue, entitled Mansus ; which Dr. 
Johnson acknowledges must have raised in the 
noble Italian a very high opinion of English ele- 
gance and literature. Manso likewise has addressed 
a distich to Milton, which is prefixed to the Latin 
poems. 

From Naples Milton intended to proceed to Sicily 
and Athens : " Countries," as Mr. War ton has ex- 
cellently observed, g " connected with his finer feel- 
ings, interwoven with his poetical ideas, and impressed 
upon his imagination by his habits of reading, and 
by long and intimate converse with the Grecian lite- 
rature. But so prevalent were his patriotick attach- 
ments, that, hearing in Italy of the commencement 
of the national quarrel, instead of proceeding forward 
to feast his fancy with the contemplation of scenes 
familiar to Theocritus and Homer, the pines of Etna 
and the pastures of Peneus, he abruptly changed his 
course, and hastily returned home to plead the cause 
of ideal liberty. Yet in this chaos of controversy, 
amidst endless disputes concerning religious and po- 

g Preface to his Edition of the Smaller Poems. 



40 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

litical reformation, independency, prelacy, tithes, to- 
leration, and tyranny, he sometimes seems to have 
heaved a sigh for the peaceable enjoyments of let- 
tered solitude, for his congenial pursuits, and the 
more mild and ingenuous exercises of the muse. In 
a Letter to Henry Oldenburgh, written in 1654, he 
says, h ( Hoc cum libertatis adversariis inopinatum 
certamen, diversis longe et amoenioribus omnino 
me studiis intentum, ad se rapuit invitum.' And in 
one of his prose-tracts, i c I may one day hope to 
have ye again in a still time, when there shall be no 
Chiding. Not in these Noises.' And in another, 
having mentioned some of his schemes for epick 
poetry and tragedy, ' of highest hope and hardest 
attempting,' he adds, k 6 With what small willingness 
I endure to interrupt the pursuit of no less hopes 
than these, and leave a calm and pleasing solitari- 
nesse, fed with cheerful and confident thoughts, to 
imbark in a troubled sea of noises and hoarse dis- 
putes, from beholding the bright countenance of 
Truth in the quiet and still air of delightfull studies,' 
&c. He still, however, obstinately persisted in what 
he thought his duty. But surely these speculations 
should have been consigned to the enthusiasts of the 
age, to such restless and wayward spirits as Prynne, 
Hugh Peters, Goodwyn, and Baxter. Minds less 
refined, and faculties less elegantly cultivated, would 
have been better employed in this task : 

h Prose-Works, vol. iii. p. 330, ed. 1698. 

' Apol. Smectymn. 1642. 

k Church-Governm. B. ii. 164L 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



Coarse complexions, 



41 



* And cheeks of sorry grain, will serve to ply 

* The sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool : 

* What need a vermeil-tinctur'd lip for that, 

* Love-darting eyes, and tresses like the morn V — " 

He returned by the way of Rome, though some 
mercantile friends had acquainted him that the Je- 
suits there were forming plots against him, for the 
liberty of his conversation upon matters of religion. 
He paid little attention to the advice of his friend 
Sir Henry Wotton, " to keep his thoughts close, and 
his countenance open." Nor did the liberal and po- 
lished Manso omit to acquaint him, at his departure, 
that he would have shown him more considerable 
favours, if his conduct had been less unguarded. He 
is supposed to have given offence by having visited 
Galileo. And he had been with difficulty restrained 
from publickly asserting, within the verge of the 
Vatican, the cause of Protestantism. While Milton, 
however, defended his principles without hypocrisy, 
he appears not to have courted contest. When he 
was questioned as to his faith, he w r as too honest to 
conceal his sentiments, and too dauntless to relinquish 
them. He staid at Rome two months more without 
fear, and indeed without molestation. From Rome 
he proceeded to Florence, where he was received 
with the most lively marks of affection by his friends, 
and made a second residence of two months. From 
Florence he visited Lucca : Then crossing the Apen- 
nine, he passed by the way of Bologna and Ferrara 
to Venice, in which city he spent a month. From 



42 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Venice he took his course through Verona, Milan, 
and along the lake Leman, to Geneva. After spend- 
ing some time in this city, where he became ac- 
quainted with Giovanni Deodati, and Frederick 
Spanheim, he returned through France, and came 
home after an absence of fifteen months. Mr. Hay- 
ley has forcibly observed, that, " in the relation 
which Milton himself gives of his return, the name 
of Geneva recalling to his mind one of the most 
slanderous of his political adversaries, he animates 
his narrative by a solemn appeal to Heaven on his 
unspotted integrity ; he protests that, during his re- 
sidence in foreign scenes, where licentiousness was 
universal, his own conduct was perfectly irreproach- 
able. I dwell the more zealously on whatever may 
elucidate the moral character of Milton ; because, 
even among those who love and revere him, the 
splendour of the poet has in some measure eclipsed 
the merit of the man; but in proportion as the par- 
ticulars of his life are studied with intelligence and 
candour, his virtue will become, as it ought to be, 
the friendly rival of his genius, and receive its due 
share of admiration and esteem." 

His return happened about the time of the King's 
second expedition against the Scots, in which his 
forces under lord Conway were defeated by general 
Lesley, in the month of August 1639. In a Bible, 
1 said to have been once in his possession, (probably 

1 Gentleman's Magazine, July 1792, p. 615. And in 1809 I 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 43 

the constant companion of his travels,) is a manu- 
script remark, dated 1639 at Canterbury city, which 
may serve to show the powerful impression made on 
his mind, (admitting the authenticity of the remark,) 
by this eventful period. " This year of very dread- 
ful commotion, and I weene will ensue murderous 
times of conflicting fight." The date of the year 
and place may lead us to suppose that, having landed 
at Dover, he was on his return from his travels to 
London. The gentleman, who communicated the 
intelligence of this Bible to the publick, and had 
been indulged with a sight of it, selected other mar- 
ginal observations which appeared to him remark- 
able; among which is the following poetical note 
on I. Maccab. xiv. 16. " Now when it was heard 
at Rome, and as far as Sparta, that Jonathan was 
dead, they were very sorry :" 

" When that day of death shall come, 

" Then shall nightly shades prevaile ; 

" Soon shall love and musick faile ; 

" Soone the fresh turfe's tender blade 

" Shall flourish on my sleeping shade." 

The authenticity of the remarks, and of the Bible 
having belonged to Milton, has indeed been ques- 
tioned ; but has been defended not without consider- 
able force, by the communicator himself, and by 

was informed, by the obliging information of Mr. Nichols, that 
this Bible was then in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Blackburn, 
son of the late Archdeacon Blackburn who wrote the Remarks on 
Dr. Johnson's Life of Milton, 12 m0 . Lond. 1780. 



44 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

other writers in the valuable miscellany, in which the 
information has been given ; to the demonstrations 
and conjectures of whom I refer the reader" 1 . 

Before we attend to the busier scenes of life, in 
which Milton, now returned to his native country, 
became engaged ; let me be permitted to lament 
that he never executed the scheme, which he once 
proposed to himself in his animated lines to Manso, 
of n " embellishing original tales of chivalry, of cloth- 
ing the fabulous achievements of the early British 
kings and champions in the gorgeous trappings of 
epick attire." The delight which he had derived 
from the military tales of Italy now perhaps sunk 
into neglect; though never into forgetfulness. In 
his latest poems he seems to look back, not without 
an eye of fond regard, to the more distinguished 
compositions of this kind ; and certainly with ample 
testimony of the attention, with which he had studied 
(to use his own words) " those lofty fables and ro- 
mances that recount in solemn cantos the deeds of 
knighthood ." 

At his return he heard of the death of his beloved 
friend and schoolfellow, Charles Deodati. And he 
lamented his loss in that elegant eclogue, the Epi- 

m Gent. Mag. Sept. 1792, p. 789. Oct. 1792, p. 900. Feb. 
1793, p. 106. And March 1800, p. 199. 

n See Mr. Warton's Preface to the Smaller Poems of Milton. 

° See particularly Par. Lost, B. i. 579, &c. Par. Reg. B. iii. 
336, &c. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 45 

taphium Damonis, which Mr. Warton has suc- 
cessfully defended against the cold remark of Dr. 
Johnson. 

He now hired a lodging in St. Bride's Church- 
yard, Fleet-street ; where he undertook the educa- 
tion of his sister's sons, John and Edward Phillips, 
p " the first ten, the other nine years of age ; and in 
a year's time made them capable of interpreting a 
Latin author at sight." Finding his house not suf- 
ficiently large for his library and furniture, he took 
a handsome q garden-house in Aldersgate-street, situ- 
ated at the end of an entry, that he might avoid the 
noise and disturbance of the street. Here he re- 
ceived into his house a few more pupils, the sons of 
his most intimate friends ; and he proceeded, with 
cheerfulness, in the noblest employment of mankind, 
that of instructing others in knowledge and virtue. 
" As he was severe on one hand," Aubrey says, " so 
he was most familiar and free in his conversation to 

p Aubrey's Life of Milton. 

q From the Note signed H. in Dr. Johnson's Life of Milton, 
Lives of the Poets, ed. 1794, vol. i. p. 130, it appears, that there 
were many of these garden houses, i. e. houses situated in a gar- 
den, especially in the north suburbs of London ; and that the 
term is technical, frequently occurring in Wood's Athen. and Fast. 
Oxon. The annotator adds, that the meaning may be collected 
from the article Thomas Farnabe, the famous schoolmaster ; of 
whom the author says, that he taught in Goldsmith's-rents, in 
Cripplegate parish, behind Redcross-street, where were large gar- 
dens and handsome houses : Milton's house in Jewin-street was 
also a garden-house, as were indeed most of his dwellings after 
his settlement in London. 



46 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

those whom he must serve in his way of education." 
His younger nephew has related the method of his 
instruction, and the books employed. Of the Latin, 
the four authors concerning husbandry, Cato, Varro, 
Columella, and Palladius; Cornelius Celsus, the 
physician ; a great part of Pliny's Natural History ; 
the Architecture of Vitruvius ; the Stratagems of 
Frontinus ; and the philosophical poets, Lucretius 
and Manilius. Of the Greek, Hesiod ; Aratus's 
Phenomena and Diosemeia ; Dionysius Afer de situ 
orbis ; Oppian's Cynegeticks and Halieuticks ; Quin- 
tus Calaber's poem of the Trojan war, continued 
from Homer ; Apollonius Rhodius's Argonauticks ; 
and in prose Plutarch's Placita philosophorum, and 
of the Education of Children; Xenophon's Cyro- 
pasdia and Anabasis ; ^Elian's Tacticks ; and the 
Stratagems of Polyaenus. Nor did this application 
to the Greek and Latin tongues impede the cultiva- 
tion of the chief oriental languages, the Hebrew, 
Chaldee, and Syriack, so far as to go through the 
Pentateuch, to make a good entrance into the Tar- 
gum or Chaldee paraphrase, and to understand se- 
veral chapters of St. Matthew in the Syriack Testa- 
ment; besides the modern languages, Italian and 
French ; and a knowledge of mathematicks and astro- 
nomy. The Sunday exercise of his pupils was, prin- 
cipally, to read a chapter of the Greek Testament, 
and to hear his learned exposition of it : to which 
was added the writing, from his dictation, some part 
of a system of divinity, which he had collected from 
the ablest divines who had written upon the subject. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 47 

From the rigid attention which such a system re- 
quired he occasionally relaxed ; and once in three or 
four weeks the hard study and spare diet, of which 
he was an eminent example to his pupils, gave way 
to the regale of a gaudy day with some young gen- 
tlemen of his acquaintance ; " the chief of whom, his 
nephew says, were Mr. Alphry and Mr. Miller, the 
beaus of those times, but nothing near so bad as those 
now-a-days !" These were the seasons in which Milton 
" resolved to drench in mirth that, after, no repent- 
ing draws," and in which he would not forfeit his 
pretensions of admission into the train of the true 
Euphrosyne : 

" In thy right hand lead with thee 



" The mountain-nymph, sweet Liberty ; 

" And, if I give thee honour due, 

" Mirth, admit me of thy crew ; 

" To live with her, and live with thee, 

" In unreproved pleasures free." 

It seems uncandid in Dr. Johnson to have ridiculed 
the academick institutions of Milton with the title of 
the " wonder-working academy," because no man 
very eminent for knowledge proceeded from it, and 
because Phillips's small history of poetry, as he r inac- 
curately states, is its only genuine product. The 
merit of Milton's intention cannot be denied, however 
the mode of education, which he pursued, may per- 
haps be justly thought impracticable. His nephew, 
with great spirit and affection, observes that, if his 

r See this point further discussed in the present Account. 



48 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



pupils 8 " had received his documents with the same 
acuteness of wit and apprehension, the same industry, 
alacrity, and thirst after knowledge, as the Instructor 
was endued with, what prodigies of wit and learn- 
ing might they have proved ! The scholars might in 
some degree, have come near to the equalling of the 
Master, or at least have in some sort made good 
what he seems to predict in the close of an elegy he 
made in the seventeenth year of his age, upon the 
death of one of his sister's children, a daughter, who 
died in her infancy : 

" Then thou, the mother of so sweet a child, 
" Her false-imagin'd loss cease to lament, 
" And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild ; 
" This if thou do, he will an offspring give, 
" That, to the world's last end, shall make thy name to live." 

But, though thus employed in the education of 
youth, Milton now began to sacrifice his time to the 
harsh and crabbed employment of controversy. In 
1641 the clamour ran high against the bishops, 
and in that clamour he joined, by publishing a trea- 
tise Of Reformation, in two books ; being willing 
to assist the Puritans in their designs against the 
established Church, who, as he informs us in his Se- 
cond Defence, were inferiour to the bishops in 
learning. We are to recollect that Milton had be- 
fore attacked the episcopal clergy, and had even an- 
ticipated the execution of Archbishop Laud, in his 
Lycidas, written before he was twenty-nine years 

s Life of Milton, p. xix. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 49 

old. The antipathy, then clothed in an allegorick 
veil, now burst into expressions of elaborate and un- 
disguised invective. Of the innovations, caused in 
the ceremonies of the Church by Laud, and which 
excited the animadversion of Milton, it may not be 
improper here to observe, that it has been * said by 
a great scholar, and most excellent historian in eccle- 
siastical no less than in civil matters, that every cere- 
mony; of which Laud enforced the observation, is to 
be found in the ritual of Andrewes, bishop of Win- 
chester, who was styled the antipapistical prelate. 
Laud, in his speech delivered at the Star-Chamber 
when he passed judgement on Bastwick, Burton, 
and Prynne, and published in 1637, thus vindicates 
himself, p. 4, &c. " I can say it clearly and truly 
as in the presence of God, I have done nothing, as a 
prelate, to the uttermost of what I am conscious, 
but with a single heart, and with a sincere intention 
for the good government and honour of the Church, 
and the maintenance of the orthodox truth and reli- 
gion of Christ professed, established, and maintained 
in this Church of England. For my care of this 
Church, the reducing of it into order, the upholding 
of the externall worship of God in it, and the settling 
of it to the rules of its first reformation, are the 
causes (and the sole causes, whatever are pretended) 
of this malicious storme, which hath lowered so 
black upon me, and some of my brethren. And in 
the meane time they, which are the only or the chief 

* See the Europ, Magazine, vol. xxviii. p. 379. 

E 



50 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

innovators of the Christian world, having nothing to 
say, accuse us of innovation ; they themselves and 
their complices in the meane time being the greatest 
innovators that the Christian world hath almost ever 
known. I deny not but others have spread more 
dangerous errours in the Church of Christ ; but no 
men, in any age of it, have been more guilty of 
innovation than they, while themselves cry out 
against it: Quis tulerit Gracchos? And I said 
well, Quis tulerit Gracchos? For 'tis most appa- 
rent to any man that will not winke, that the inten- 
tion of these men, and their abettors, was and is 
to raise a sedition ; being as great incendiaries 
in the State (where they get power) as they have 
ever been in the Church ; Novatian himselfe hardly 
greater. Our maine crime is (would they all speake 
out, as some of them do,) that we are bishops ; were 
we not so, some of us might be as passable as other 
men." To those, who would examine attentively the 
ecclesiastical controversy of this period, I recommend 
the perusal of the whole speech. 

In 1641, the eloquent Hall, bishop of Norwich, 
having published an Humble Remonstrance in fa- 
vour of Episcopacy, five ministers, under the title of 
Smectymnuus, a word formed from the first letters 
of their u names, wrote an Answer ; of which Arch- 



u Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young (Mil- 
ton's preceptor), Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstow, 
the initial letter of whose Christian name is quaintly divided, in 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



51 



bishop Usher published a Confutation, To this Con- 
futation Milton replied in his Treatise Of Prelatical 
Episcopacy. And, although he has ungracefully 
classed the archbishop's Confutation with " some 
late treatises, one whereof goes under the name of 
James, Lord Bishop of Armagh," he has, in his next 
publication, complimented the excellent prelate for 
his learning. With such an adversary as Usher, in- 
deed, which of the Smectymnuans would have dared 
to cope ? This enterprise none could partake with 
Milton. Vehement as he was in his reply to the 
two bishops, he also enlarged this topick of puritan- 
ical zeal in another performance, entitled The Rea- 
son of Church Government urged against Prelacy, 
in two books. And, bishop Hall having published 
A Defence of the Humble Remonstrance, he wrote 
Animadversions upon it. These treatises were the 
fruits of his prejudice against the established Church 
in 1641. From the third treatise, The Reason of 
Church Government, we derive some knowledge of 
his literary projects, and of the opinion he enter- 
tained of his own abilities ; expressed, as Dr. John- 
son well observes, not with ostentatious exultation, 
but with calm confidence ; with a promise to under- 
take something, he yet knows not what, that may be 
of use and honour to his country. The whole pas- 
sage, from which Dr. Johnson has cited a small part 
as a fervid, pious, and rational pledge of the Pa- 
radise Lost, however well known to the admirers of 

order to produce this celebrated word ! This is to be enumerated 
among the few playful tricks of fanaticism. 



52 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



the poet, is too sublime and interesting to be read 

again a 

delight. 



again and again without renewed and encreased 



" x Time serves not now, and, perhaps, I might 
seem too profuse to give any certain account of what 
the mind at home, in the spacious circuits of her 
musing, hath liberty to propose to herself, though of 
highest hope and hardest attempting ; whether that 
epick form, whereof the two poems of Homer, and 
those other two of Virgil and Tasso, are a diffuse, 
and the book of Job a brief, model ; or whether the 
rules of Aristotle herein are strictly to be kept, or 
nature to be followed ; which in them that know art, 
and use judgement, is no transgression, but an en- 
riching of art : and lastly, what king or knight, be- 
fore the Conquest, might be chosen, in whom to lay 
the pattern of a christian hero. And as Tasso gave 
to a prince of Italy his choice, whether he would 
command him to write of Godfrey's expedition against 
the infidels, Belisarius against the Goths, or Charle- 
main against the Lombards ; if to the instinct of na- 
ture, and the emboldening of art, aught may be 
trusted, and that there be nothing adverse in our 
climate, or the fate of this age, it haply would be 
no rashness, from an equal diligence and inclination, 
to present the like offer in our ancient stories. Or 
whether those dramatick constitutions, wherein So- 
phocles and Euripides reign, shall be found more 

x Introduction to the second book. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 53 

doctrinal and exemplary to a nation. — Or, if occa- 
sion shall lead, to imitate those magnifick odes and 
hymns, wherein Pindar us and Callimachus are in 
most things worthy. But those frequent songs 
throughout the Law and Prophets, beyond all these, 
not in their divine argument alone, but in the very 
critical art of composition, may be easily made ap- 
pear over all the kinds of lyrick poesy to be incom- 
parable. These abilities, wheresoever they be found, 
are the inspired gift of God, rarely bestowed, but 
yet to some (though most abuse) in every nation ; 
and are of power, besides the office of a pulpit, to 
inbreed and cherish in a great people the seeds of 
virtue and publick civility, to allay the perturbations 
of the mind, and set the affections in right tune ; to 
celebrate in glorious and lofty hymns the throne and 
equipage of God's Almightiness, and what he works, 
and what he suffers to be wrought, with high pro- 
vidence in his church ; to sing victorious agonies of 
martyrs and saints, the deeds and triumphs of just 
and pious nations doing valiantly through faith 
against the enemies of Christ ; to deplore the gene- 
ral relapses of kingdoms and states from justice and 
God's true worship. Lastly, whatsoever in religion 
is holy and sublime, in virtue amiable or grave, 
whatsoever hath passion or admiration in all the 
changes of that, which is called fortune from with- 
out, or the wily subtleties and refluxes of man's 
thoughts from within ; all these things, with a solid 
and treatable smoothness to paint out and describe, 
teaching over the whole book of sanctity and virtue, 



54 , SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

through all the instances of example, with such de- 
light, to those especially of soft and delicious temper, 
who will not so much as look upon Truth herself, 
unless they see her elegantly drest, that whereas 
the paths of honesty and good life appear now rug- 
ged and difficult, though they be indeed easy and 
pleasant, they will then appear to all men both easy 
and pleasant, though they were rugged and difficult 
indeed. — 

" The thing which I had to say, and those inten- 
tions, which have lived within me ever since I could 
conceive myself any thing worth to my country, I 
return to crave excuse that urgent reason hath 
pluckt from me by an abortive and fore-dated dis- 
covery; and the accomplishment of them lies not 
but in a power above man's to promise ; but that 
none hath by more studious ways endeavoured, and 
with more unwearied spirit that none shall, that I 
dare almost aver of myself, as far as life and free 
leisure will extend. Neither do I think it shame to 
covenant with any knowing reader that for some 
few years yet I may go on trust with him toward 
the payment of what I am now indebted, as being a 
work not to be raised from the heat of youth, or the 
vapours of wine, like that which flows at waste from 
the pen of some vulgar amorist, or the trencher 
fury of a riming parasite ; nor to be obtained by the 
invocation of dame Memory and her Siren daughters ; 
but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit, who 
can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 55 

sends out his Seraphim with the hallowed fire of his 
altar to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases : 
to this must be added industrious and select read- 
ing, steady observation, insight into all seemly and 
generous arts and affairs ; till which in some mea- 
sure be compassed, at mine own peril and cost I 
refuse not to sustain this expectation from as many 
as are not loth to hazard so much credulity upon 
the best pledges that I can give them. Although 
it nothing content me to have disclosed thus much 
before hand ; but that I trust hereby to make it 
manifest with what small willingness I endure to 
interrupt the pursuit of no less hopes than these, 
and leave a calm and pleasing solitariness, fed with 
cheerful and confident thoughts, to imbark in a 
troubled sea of noises and hoarse disputes, put from 
beholding the bright countenance of Truth, in the 
quiet and still air of delightful studies." 

In 1642 he closed the preceding controversy with 
an Apology for Smectymnuus, in answer to the 
Confutation of his Animadversions, written, as he 
supposed, by bishop Hall or his son. He thought all 
this while, says Dr. Newton, that he was vindicating 
ecclesiastical liberty. Yet he has confessed, that he 
was not disposed to " y this manner of writing, 
wherein knowing myself inferiour to myself, led by 
the genial power of nature to another task, I have 



y Introduction to the second Book of his Reason of Church 
Government. 



56 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

the use, as I may account it, but of my left hand." 
This left hand, indeed, has recorded many sen- 
timents which we must reject, and many expressions 
which we must lament. By his asperity the re- 
pulsive form of puritanism is rendered more hideous 
and disgusting, and the cause which he would sup- 
port is weakened. But the general character of his 
prose-works is not yet before us. 



SECTION II. 



From his Marriage to the time of his being appointed 
Secretary for Foreign Tongues, 

At Whitsuntide in 1643, and in his thirty-fifth year, 
(as I have before observed,) Milton married Mary, 
the daughter of Richard Powell, a gentleman who 
resided at Forest Hill near Shotover in Oxfordshire, 
and was a justice of the peace for the county. He 
brought his bride to London ; who, after living only 
a few weeks with him, obtained his consent to accept 
the invitation of her friends to spend the remaining 
part of the summer with them in the country. He 
gave her permission to stay till Michaelmas ; but 
she declined to return at the expiration of that 
period. The visit to her friends was, in fact, only a 
pretence for conjugal desertion. This desertion has 
been imputed, by Phillips, to the different principles 
of the two families. Her relations, he tells us, 
" being generally addicted to the Cavalier party, 
and some of them possibly ingaged in the King's 
service, (who by this time had his head quarters at 
Oxford, and was in some prospect of success,) they 
began to repent them of having matched the eldest 



58 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

daughter of the family to a person so contrary to 
them in opinion ; and thought it would he a blot in 
their escutcheon, whenever that Court should come 
to flourish again : however, it so incensed our author, 
that he thought it would he dishonourable ever to 
receive her again after such a repulse." The same 
biographer intimates, that she was averse to the 
philosophical life of Milton, and sighed for the mirth 
and jovialness to which she had been accustomed in 
Oxfordshire. And Aubrey relates, that she " a was 
brought up and bred where there was a great deal 
of company and merriment, as dancing, &c. ; and, 
when she came to live with her husband^ she found 
it solitary, no company came to her, and she often 
heard her nephews cry and be beaten. This life 
was irksome to her, and so she went to her pa- 
rents. He sent for her home after some time. 
As for wronging his bed, I never heard the least 
suspicion of that ; nor had he of that any jea- 
lousies 

It has escaped the biographers of the poet, how- 
ever, that, while Milton ingenuously admits " b that 
every motion of a jealous mind should not be re- 
garded," he has not failed to enumerate, among the 
reasons which are said to have warranted divorce in 
elder times, " the wilfull haunting of feasts, and 
invitations with men not of her near kindred, the 



a Life, as before. 

b Doct. and Discip. of Divorce, B. ii. Ch. xviii. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 59 

lying forth of her house without probable cause, the 
frequenting of theatres against her husband's 
mind" &c. If this be not pointed directly at the 
conduct of his wife, the following passage certainly 
exhibits his indignation at her continuance under 
her father's roof, while at the same time it confirms 
Aubrey's account that he did not suspect her as 
faithless to his bed. " c He £Grotius]] shews also, 
that fornication is taken in Scripture for such a con- 
tinual headstrong behaviour, as tends to plain 
contempt of the husband, and proves it out of Judges 
xix. 2, where the Levite's wife is said to have played 
the whore against him ; which Josephus and the Sep- 
tuagint, with the Chaldean, interpret only of stub- 
bornness and rebellion against her husband : and 
to this I add that Kimchi, and the two other rabbies 
who gloss the text, are in the same opinion. Ben 
Gersom reasons, that had it been whoredom, a Jew 
and a Levite would have disdained to fetch her 
again. And this I shall contribute, that had it 
been whoredom, she would have chosen any other 
place to run to than to her father's house, it being 
so infamous for a Hebrew woman to play the harlot, 
and so opprobrious to the parents. Fornication then 
in this place of the Judges is understood for stub- 
born disobedience against the husband, and not 
for adultery" 

Milton sent for his wife, however, in vain. As all 
c Doct. and Discip. of Divorce, B. ii. Ch, xviii. 



60 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

his letters, desiring her to return, were unanswered; 
so the messenger, whom he afterwards employed for 
the same purpose, was dismissed from her father's 
house with contempt. He resolved therefore, with- 
out further ceremony, to repudiate her ; and, in de- 
fence of his resolution, he published four treatises, 
the two first in 1644, the two last in 1645. The 
Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce ; The Judge- 
ment of Martin Bucer concerning Divorce ; Te- 
trachordon, or Expositions upon the four chief 
Places of Scripture which treat of Marriage, or 
Nullities in Marriage ; and Colasterion. The last 
is a reply to the anonymous author of " An Answer 
to a Book, intituled The Doctrine and Discipline 
of Divorce, or a Plea for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 
and all other Married Women against Divorce. 
Wherein both Sexes are vindicated from all bondage 
of Canon Law, and other mistakes whatsoever ; and 
the unsound principles of the Author are examined 
and fully confuted by Authority of Holy Scripture, 
the Laws of this Land, and sound Reason. Lond. 
1644." This pamphlet was licensed and recom- 
mended by Mr. Joseph Caryl, a Presbyterian divine, 
and author of a voluminous commentary on the book 
of Job ; whom Milton, in his reply, roughly stigma- 
tizes with repeated charges of ignorance, as he also 
styles his antagonist " a serving-man both by nature 
and by function, an idiot by breeding, and a solicitor 
by presumption !" The application of these and simi- 
lar terms, in the dispute, may remind us of the ele- 
gant dialogue between Nym and Pistol in Shaks- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 61 

peare's d King Henry the fifth : but there a wife 
retained, and not a wife repudiated, is the cause of 
so much eloquence ! 

There had been another tract written against 
Milton's doctrines, which he briefly notices at the 
beginning of his Colasterion, entitled " Divorce at 
pleasure." Nor was he inattentive to the remark of 
Dr. Featley, who in the Epistle Dedicatory to his 
" Dippers dipt," published in 1645, enumerates, 
among " the audacious attempts upon Church and 
State, a Tractate of Divorce, in which the bonds of 
marriage are let loose to inordinate lust, and putting 
away wives for many other causes besides that which 
our Saviour only approve th, namely, in case of adul- 
tery." Milton speaks contemptuously of the author 
as having written an " equivocating treatise," and as 
" diving the while himself with a more deep prela- 
tical malignance against the present State and 
Church-government." Dr. Johnson and Mr. War ton 
are mistaken in supposing the new doctrine to have 
been unnoticed, or neglected : indeed the tw r o Son- 
nets, which Milton wrote on the same subject, seem 
to discountenance the opinion. It certainly was re- 
ceived with ridicule, as we learn from Howel's e Letter 
to Sir Edward Spencer. But it gave rise to a band, 
not perhaps very formidable, who were called Di- 
vorcers, and even Miltonists. Pagitt, in his " De- 



<] Act ii. Scene i. 

e Letters, 10th edit. p. 455. 



62 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

scription of the Hereticks and Sectaries" of that 
period, notices the f former sect with him, who wrote 
the Tractate of Divorce, at their head. The latter 
title occurs in " s The Epilogue, shewing the Paral- 
lell in two Poems, the Return, and the Restauration. 
Addressed to her Highnesse the Lady Elizabeth, by 
Christopher]. Wrasse]. 1649." 8vo. 

" Force can but in a Rape engage, 
" 'Tis choice must make it Marriage : 
" Hence a conveyance they contrive, 
" Which must on us their cause derive : 

f Heresiography, &c. 1654, p. 129. See also Ibid. p. 77. 
And " A brief description &c. of Phanatiques in general!, 1660," 
p. 33. 

* This book was obligingly pointed out to me by Thomas 
Park, Esq ; to whom the literary world is indebted for some of 
the sweetest Sonnets in the English language. The same gentle- 
man directed me to the following bitter application of Milton's 
doctrine to himself by G. S. in " Britain's Triumph, for her un- 
parallel'd deliverance and her joyful celebrating the Proclamation 
of her most gracious incomparable king Charles the second &c. 
1660." 4to. G. S. the author, after satirizing the members of the 
Rump Parliament, thus proceeds, p. 15. 

" But who appears here with the curtain drawn ? 
" What, Milton ! are you come to see the sight? 
" Oh Image-breaker ! poor knave ! had he sawn 
" That which the fame of made him crye out-right, 
" He'ad taken counsel of Achitophell, 
" Swung himself weary, and so gone to hell. 
" This is a sure Divorce, and the best way ; 
" Seek, Sir, no further, now the trick is found, 
" To part a sullen knave from's wife, that day 
" He doth repent his choyce ; stab'd, hang'd, or drown'd, 
" Will make all sure and further good will bring, 
*' The wretch will rail no more against his King." 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 63 

" This must attaque, what holds out still, 

" And is impregnable, the Will. 

" This must enchant our conscious hands, 

" To slumber in like guilty bands, 

" While, like the froward Miltonist, 

" We our old nuptiall knot untwist : 

■' And with the hands, late faith did joyn, 

" The bill of plain Divorce now signe." 

It had been treated also as an " h errour so gross 
as to need no other confutation," than the mere men- 
tion of it. But before these remarks had been made 
upon a doctrine, at which the shafts of ridicule as 
well as censure might indeed be fairly levelled, the 
innovation of the author had also been opposed from 
the pulpit. The presbyterian clergy had not only 
caused him to be summoned before the House of 
Lords, by whom however he was quickly dismissed ; 
but one of them, in a sermon before the Lords and 
Commons on a fast-day, had endeavoured in vain to 
excite their indignation against him. Milton notices 
this attack in the beginning of his Tetrachordon, 
and thanks the auditors for not repenting of what 
the preacher called their sin, the neglecting to brand 

h In"A Glasse for the Times, &c. With a briefe Collection 
of the Errors of our Times, and their Authors Names. Col- 
lected by T. C. a friend to Truth. Lond. 1648." 4to. Milton 
and his doctrine are noticed in p. 6. T. Forde, the dramatick 
writer, appears to have entertained no favourable opinion of in- 
compatibility of temper being pretended as a reason for divorce. 
See his letter to T. C. apparently written at the time when 
Milton's treatise was first published, in the collection of his 
Letters, 8vo. Lond. 1660, p. 103—106. 



64 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



his book with some mark of their displeasure. This 
opponent, who has been hitherto unnoticed, was 
Herbert Palmer, B.D. a Member of the Assembly of 
Divines, and parliamentary Master of Queen's Col- 
lege, Cambridge. " l If any," says he to his judicial 
audience, " plead conscience for the lawfulnesse of 
polygamy ; (or for divorce for k other causes than 

1 I had examined many single sermons of this period, under 
the hope of discovering- the author who had thus publickly 
attacked Milton ; but without success. I was indebted to a libe- 
ral friend, the late James Bindley, Esq ; for pointing out, after a 
long research also, this forgotten discourse ; of which I give the 
title : " The Glasse of God's Providence towards his Faithfull 
Ones. Held forth in a Sermon preached to the two Houses of 
Parliament at Margaret's Westminster, Aug. 13, 1644. being an 
extraordinary day of Humiliation. Wherein is discovered the 
great failings that the best are liable unto, &c. The whole is 
applyed specially to a more carefull observation of our late 
Covenant, and particularly against the ungodly toleration 
pleaded for under pretence of Liberty of Conscience, By Her- 
bert Palmer, B.D." &c. 

k And yet it seems, in the Confessio Fidei of the Assembly of 
Divines published in 1656, that Milton's doctrine had not been 
entirely neglected. See Cap. xxiv. *'-De Conjugio et Divortio. 
§. 6. Quamvis ea sit hominis corruptio, ut proclivis sit ad ex- 
cogitandum argumenta indebite illos, quos Deus connubio junxit, 
dissociandi ; nihilominus tamen extra adulterium ac desertionem 
ita obstinatam ut cui nullo remedio nee ab ecclesia nee d magis- 
tratu civili subveniri possit, sufficiens causa nulla esse potest 
conjugium dissolvendi." Conf. Fid. 12mo. Cantab. 1656, p. 65. 
I have been indebted to Mr. Octavius Gilchrist, the ingenious edi- 
tor of bishop Corbet's poetry, for the notice of the following stroke 
of satire, evidently pointed at Milton, both in respect to this 
and to another subject, so late as in 1670, in the Preface to 
Echard's Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy 
and Religion; " I am not, I'll assure you, any of those occa- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 05 

Christ and his Apostles mention ; of which a wicked 
booke is abroad and uncensured, though deserving 
to be burnt, whose author hath been so impudent 
as to set his name to it, and dedicate it to your- 
selves?) or for liberty to marry incestuously, will you 
grant a toleration for all this $" Milton now became 
an enemy to the Presbyterians, whom he before had 
favoured. Notwithstanding their opposition, how- 
ever, he proceeded to illustrate his opinion more 
forcibly by paying his addresses to a young lady of 
great wit and beauty, the daughter of one Dr. Davis, 
with a design to marry her ! But this desire of car- 
rying his doctrine into practice was not countenanced 
by the lady. What is more remarkable, the proceed- 
ing contributed to effect a reconciliation with the 
discarded wife. 

In the mean time, Milton pursued his studies with 
unabating vigour ; and, in 1644, at the request of his 
friend, Mr. Samuel 1 Hartlib, published his tractate 
Of Education ; or plan of academical institution : 
in which, as he expresses it, he leads his scholar from 
Lilly to his commencing master of arts. Mr. Warton 

sional writers, that, missing preferment at the University, can 
presently write you their new ways of education; or, being 
tormented with an ill-chosen wife, set forth the Doctrine of 
Divorce to be truly evangelical." 

1 Of this remarkable person the reader may find an ac- 
count written by himself, in Rennet's Register, 1728, p. 868. 
See also Mr. Warton's first edition of Milton's Smaller Poems, 
p. 116, &c. A Life of Hartlib is a desideratum in English 
biography. 



66 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

observes that m Milton's plan has more of show than 
value. " u Education in England," Dr. Johnson has 
remarked, " has been in danger of being hurt by two 
of its greatest men, Milton and Locke. Milton's 
plan is impracticable, and I suppose has never been 
tried. Locke's, I fancy, has been tried often enough, 
but is very imperfect ; it gives too much to one side, 
and too little to the other ; it gives too little to lite- 
rature." It is perhaps not generally known that 
Milton's treatise on this subject has been translated 
into French. The translator has bestowed much 
eulogium ° upon the author. In the same year, Mil- 

m See his first edition of Milton's Smaller Poems, p. 117. 

n Boswell's Life of Johnson, ed. 1799, vol. iii. p. 382. 

° " Dans les terns que nous nous proposions de donner ces 
Lettres au Public, il nous en est tombe entre les mains une de 
Milton, qui n' a pas encore paru dans notre langue, &c. — Rien ne 
fait tant d' honneur a. 1' Angleterre que de voir que le plus grand 
po'ete, et 1' un des plus celebres philosophes [Locke], qu' elle ait 
eus, ont assez senti de quelle importance etoit 1' education des 
enfans, pour s' en occuper serieusement. — Dans cette Lettre il est 
aise de s' appercevoir que 9' a ete un des plus scavans hommes qui 
ayent vecu. C'est par cette vaste erudition, joint a un heureux 
genie, qu' il est devenu leplus grand de tous les poetes modernes. 
Aussi son Paradis Perdu n' est-il pas 1' ouvrage de sa jeunesse : 
Peut-etre alors en avoit-il concxi 1' idee ; mais avant que de Y 
executer, il avoit vecu avec les hommes, il avoit connu 1' usage 
et la puissance des passions, il avoit 1' esprit orne de la connois- 
sance de toutes les sciences et de tous les arts. Sans examiner si la 
maniere d' elever la jeunesse que Milton propose est aisee a reduire 
en pratique ; il est sur que son plan est rempli de vues tres-fines et 
tres-sages, et qu' il paroit contenir tout ce qui est necessaire pour 
former un citoyen utile a sa patrie et agreable a la societe." 
Lettres sur L'Education des Princes. Avec une Lettre de Mil- 
ton, &c. 1746. Preface, pp. lxxv. lxxix. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 67 

ton published his Areopagitica, a Speech for the 
liberty of unlicensed Printing : perhaps the best 
vindication, as Dr. Newton observes, that has been 
published at any time, or in any language, of that 
liberty which is the basis and support of all other 
liberties, the liberty of the press. But the candid 
critick adds, that it produced not the desired effect ; 
for the Presbyterians were as fond of exercising the 
licensing power, when they got it into their own 
hands, as they had been clamorous before in in- 
veighing against it, while it was in the hands of the 
Prelates. 

His father having come to live with him, after the 
surrender of Reading to the Earl of Essex in 1643, 
and his scholars now encreasing, he required a larger 
house ; before his removal to which, he was surprised, 
at one of his usual visits to a relation in the lane of 
St. Martin's-le-grand, to see his wife come from 
another room, and beg forgiveness on her knees. 
The interview on her part had been concerted. The 
declining state of the royal cause, and consequently 
of her father's family, as well as the intelligence of 
Milton's determination to marry again, caused her 
friends to employ every method to re-unite the in- 
sulted husband and disobedient wife. f It was con- 
trived that she should be ready, when he came, in 
another apartment. Fenton, in his elegant sketch of 
the poet's life, judiciously remarks, that " p it is not 

p Prefixed to his edition of Paradise Lost, first published in 
1725. 

f 2 



68 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

to be doubted but an interview of that nature, so 
little expected, must wonderfully affect him: and 
perhaps the impressions it made on his imagination 
contributed much to the painting of that pathetick 
scene in Paradise Lost, in which Eve addresses her- 
self to Adam for pardon and peace. At the inter- 
cession of his friends who were present, after a short 
reluctance, he generously sacrificed all his resent- 
ment to her tears : 



Soon his heart relented 



" Towards her, his life so late, and sole delight, 
" Now at his feet submissive in distress. 

And after this re-union so far was he from retaining 
an unkind memory of the provocations which he had 
received from her ill conduct, that, when the king's 
cause was entirely oppressed, and her father who 
had been active in his loyalty was exposed to seques- 
tration, Milton received both him and his family to 
protection and free entertainment, in his own house, 
till their affairs were accommodated by his interest 
in the victorious faction." Mr. Powell, however, 
seems to have smarted severely for his attachment to / 
the royal party. I observe, first, in the " Catalogue 
of the Lords, Knights, and Gentlemen, that have 
compounded for their Estates," printed at London 
in 1655, that he had been thus branded as well as 
fined : " Richard Powel, Delinquent, per John Pye, 
Esq; 576/. 12s. 3d" And his house had been be- 
fore seized by the rebels. But a full account of his 
delinquency and of his composition, and of the share 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 69 

in both which consequently was transferred upon 
his widow and upon Milton himself, has been found 
in the First and Second Series of Royalists' Compo- 
sition-Papers in his Majesty's State-Paper-Office ; 
which presents indeed a most curious portion of do- 
mestick history, combined with publick transactions, 
in regard to the family of the poet's first wife, the 
sufferings and losses of the loyal parent, and a debt 
which was due to Milton. Of the following docu- 
ments, which till now have never met the publick 
eye, the account consists ; commencing in the year 
1646. 

q l. " Richard Powell of Forrest hill in the County 
of Oxon, Esq. 

" His Delinquency, that he deserted his dwellinge 
and went to Oxford, and lived there whiles it was a 
Garrison holden for the Kinge against the Parlia- 
mente, and was there at the tyme of the Surrender, 
and to have the benefit of those Articles as by Sir 
Thomas Fairfax's certificate of the 20 of June 1646 
doth appeare. 

" He hath taken the Nationall Covenant before 
William Barton, Minister of John Zacharies, the 
4th of December 1646, and the Negative Oath heere 
the same daye. 

" He compounds upon a Perticuler delivered in, 
under his hand, by which he doth submitt to such 
Fine &c. and by which it doth appeare : 

i Second Series of Royalists' Comp. Papers, vol. xxi. No. 1137, 



70 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" That he is seized in Fee to him and his Heirs 
in possession, of and in the Tythes of Whatley in 
the Parish of Cudsden, and other Lands and Te- 
nements there of the yeerely value before theis trou- 
bles, 40/. 

" That he is owner and possessed of a personall 
Estate in goods, and there was owinge unto him in 
good debts, in all amountinge unto 600/. ; and there 
is 400/. more in Tymber, which is alledged to be 
questionable. 

" That he is indebted by Statutes and Bonds 
1500/. 

" He hath lost by reason of theis warrs 3000/. 

" He craves to be allowed 400/. which by a de- 
mise and lease dated the 30th of January 1642, of 
the lands and tenements aforesaid, is secured to be 
paid unto one Thomas Ashworth, gentleman, and is 
deposed to be still oweinge. 

(Signed) " D. Watkins. 

« 8 December, 1646, p r i ce at 2 yeeres value, 180/." 

The case of Mr. Powell, who died in 1646-7, was 
not entirely settled, it seems, so late as in 1653. 
For the next document details the proceedings upon 
it in that year. 

2. " Accordinge to your order of 30 August 1653 
upon the order of judgment of the Court of Articles 
of the 15th of July, 1653, in the case (heard 4° May, 
1654,) of Anne Powell, widow, relict and adminis- 
tratrix of Richard Powell, late of Forrest hill, in the 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



71 



county of Oxford, Esq. deceased, whereby it is re- 
ferred to me to state the case touching the fine im- 
posed on Mr. John Pye, upon the act of the first of 
August, 1650, for the leasehold land of the said 
Richard Powell, and report the same in order to the 
reducing of the said fine according to Oxford arti- 
cles, within which articles the said court have ad- 
judged him to be comprised, I find that by the said 
judgment of the said Court of Articles of the 15th 
of July, 1653, the said Richard Powell is adjudged 
to be comprised within the articles of Oxford, and 
that it appeared to them that the said Richard 
Powell petitioned at Goldsmiths' Hall, to compound 
upon the said articles of Oxford the 6th of August, 
1646, and had his fine set the 8th of December, 
1646 ; and that he died the 1st of January, 1646, 
no proceedings being made upon the said composi- 
tion : and that Mr. John Pye hath since compounded 
upon the act of the 1st of August, 1650, upon a 
mortgage of lands of the yearly value of 2721. 15s. 8d. 
being a lease for 31 yeares, upon which mortgage 
there was owing to the said John Pye 1238/. which 
debt being allowed, the fine was set 576/. 12s. 3d. 
which is paid into the Treasury. Upon considera- 
tion whereof the said Court of Articles were of opi- 
nion, that the said fine paid by Mr. Pye ought to 
be reduced, according to the articles of Oxford, and 
did award, order, and adjudge, that the said fine be 
reduced accordingly ; and that the overplus be paid 
unto Mr. Pye, with such abatement as is usual in 
like cases. 



72 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" Upon search of the papers here remayning, I 
find that there was a fine set upon the said Richard 
Powell, upon the said Articles of Oxford in Decem- 
ber 1646, but not for the estate mortgaged to Mr. 
Pye : but nothing thereof paid. 

" That the said John Pye compounded the 25th 
of March 1651 for a Lease of the Mannor and Rec- 
tory of Forest Hill, for 31 yeares, commencing the 
1st of Nov. 1641, which was mortgaged by the said 
Richard Powell in 1640, upon which mortgage there 
was then due to him 1238/., for which his fine was 
sett at a sixth, 576/. 12*. 3d, If this be reduced to 
a tenth, according to Oxford Articles, it will stand 
thus : A Lease for 31 yeares from November 1641 
of Lands of the yearly value of 292/. 15*. 8f/., 
whence allowing for a debt of 1238/. ; 123/. 16*. 

" He craveth allowance of 20/. per annum to the 
Curate. 

" The fine will remayne. 
« Sept l, 1653. (Signed) Jo. Readinge." 

3. Hi By the Commissioners for compounding, &c. 

30° Augusti, 1653. 

" Upon reading an order of judgment given by 
the Court of Articles the 15th of July last in the 
case of Ann Powell, Widow, Relict and Administra- 
trix of Richard Powell, late of Forrest Hill in the 
County of Oxford, Esq. deceased, (a copy whereof 
is hereunto annexed and attested by our Register,) 
It is ordered that it be referred to Mr. Readinge, to 
state the case touching the fine imposed on Mr. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 73 

John Pye, upon the Act of the first of August 1650 
for the Leasehold land of the said Richard Powell, 
and make Report thereof to Us, in order to the re- 
ducing of the said fine according to Oxford Articles, 
within which Articles the said Court have adjudged 
him to be comprised. 

(Signed) " John Upton, 

" Edw. Cary, 
" Ric. Moore." 

Then follows a Certificate, w T hich had been made 
upon this order, to the Commissioners for relief upon 
articles, as required in the fifth document. 

4. " To the Right Honorable the Commissioners 
for Breach of Articles. 

" The Humble Petition of Ann Powell, Widow, 
Relict of Richard Powell of Forrest Hill in the 
Countie of Oxon, Esq. 

" Humblie sheweth, 

" That your Petitioner's late Husband was com- 
prised within the Articles of Oxford, and ought to 
have received the benefit thereof, as appears by His 
Excellencie's Certificate hereunto annexed. 

" That your said Petitioner's Husband by the said 
Articles was to have the benefit of his reall and per- 
sonall estate, for sixe moneths after the rendition of 
the said cittie, and to enjoy e the same for the future, 
soe as he made his addresses to the Committee at 
Gouldsmiths' Hall to compound for the same within 
that tyme. That your Petitioner's said Husband 



74 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

accordingly in August,, one thousand sixe hundred 
fortie sixe, petitioned the said Honorable Committee, 
and in his Particular inserted for tymber and wood 
fower hundred pounds, but, before he could perfect 
the same, dyed. 

" That the Honourable House of Parliament, 
upon some misinformation, not taking notice of the 
said Articles, did, in July one thousand sixe hundred 
fortie sixe, order the said wood to severall uses, 
which was thereupon, togeither with the rest of his 
goods and moveables, seized and carried away by the 
sequestrators to the Committee for Oxon, contrary 
to the said Articles. 

" That your Petitioner, as Executrix to her said 
Husband, is now sued in severall Courts of Justice 
at Westminster for manie debts due to diverse per- 
sons, and is noe waie able eyther to satisfie the same, 
or provide a scanty subsistence for herselfe and nine 
children. 

" She therefore humblie prayes, that shee maie 
reape that favour which the said Articles doe afford 
her, by restoringe to her the said tymber and wood, 
and other her goods soe taken away, or the value 
thereof. 

" And your Petitioner shall praie, &c. 

" Anne Powell." 

" Vera Copia Ext a . 

(Signed) " Tracy Pauncefote, RegV 

5. " By the Commissioners appointed for releife 
upon Articles, &c. Painted Chamber, Westminster. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 75 

" Veneris 16° die Novembris, 1649. 
" Present. 
" Lord President of the Council of State. 
" Sir Henrie Holcroft, Colonel Rowe, 
" Sir Nath. Brent, Colonel Taylor, 

" Colonel Cooke, Colonell Whaley, 

" Sir William Rowe, Mr. Sadler. 
" Mr. John Hurst, of Councell for the Common- 
wealth. 

" Upon readinge the Petition of Ann Powell, 
Widow, Relict of Richard Powell of Forrest Hill, 
in the Countie of Oxford, Esq. It is ordered, That 
a Coppie of her said Petition attested under the Re- 
gister's hande of this Court, be delivered unto the 
Commissioners for compoundinge with delinquents 
sittinge at Gouldsmiths' Hall, whoe are desired to 
make Certificate unto this Court within one moneth 
from the date of this Order, at what tyme the said 
Richard Powell petitioned to make his composition, 
and whether the wood mentioned in his Petition 
were expressed in his Particular delivered in unto 
them, with what else they shall thinke fitt to insert 
touching the matter of complaint sett downe in the 
said Petition. Whereupon the Court will proceed 
further as they shall thinke fitt. 
(Signed) 
" By Command of the Commissioners, 

" Tracy Pauncefote, Reg r ." 

We are now recalled to Mr. Powell's own state- 
ment, and other circumstances, which have been 



76 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

noticed in the first of these interesting docu- 
ments. 

6. " To the Honorable the Committee sitting at 
Goldsmiths' Hall for Compositions. 

" The Humble Petition of Richard Powell, of 
Forrest Hill, in the County of Oxon, Esq. 
" Sheweth, 

" That your Petitioner's estate for the most 
parte lying in the Kings Quarters, he did adhere to 
His Majesty's party against the forces raised by the 
Parliament, in this unnaturall warr ; for which his 
delinquency his estate lyeth under sequestration. 
He is comprised within these Articles at the sur- 
render of Oxford. And humbly prayes to be ad- 
mitted to his composition according to the said 
Articles. 

" And he shall pray, &c. 

(Signed) " Richard Powell. 

" Received 6° August!, 1646. 
" 26° Novembris, 1646, 

" Referred to the Sub-Committee." 

7. " These are to cer title, that Richard Powell 
of Forrest Hill, in the County of Oxford, Esq. did 
freely and fully take the nationall covenant and sub- 
scribe the same, upon the fourth day of December, 
1646; the said covenant being administred unto 
him, according to order, by me, 

(Signed) " William Barton, 

" Minister of John Zacharies, London." 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 77 

8. " Richard Powell of Forrest Hill, in the County of 
Oxford, Esq. tooke the oath this 4th of December, 1646. 

(Signed) " Tho. Vincent." 

9. " Richard Powell of Forrest Hill, in the County 
of Oxford maketh oath, that the severall summes of 
money mentioned to be oweing by him in his Parti- 
cular, annexed to his Petition at Gouldsmiths' Hall, 
,are trulie and reallie oweing by him. And further 
deposeth, that he is the worse in his estate att leaste 
three thousand pounds by reason of these warres. And 
that the aforesaid debtes were by him oweing before 
the beginning of this Parliament, and are still oweing. 

(Signed) " Ric. Powell. 

" Jur. 4°. die. Decembr. 1646. 

(Signed) " John Page." 

10. "A particular of the reall and personall es- 
tate of Richard Powell of Forrest Hill. 

66 He is seized of an estate in fee of 
the tythes of Whatley, in the Parish of 
Cudsden, and three yard lands and a \ n40 no ~ 
halfe there, together with certayne cot- 
tages, worth before these times per 
annum. 

" This is morgadg'd to Mr. Ash- , A demyse for 
worth for ninetye-nine yeares for a I 99 yeeres de- 
security of four hundred pounds, asl* eate( * "Y a 
appeares by Deed, bearing date the \ ]jn/w t 
10th of Jan. in the 7th of King! 30, 1642. Ar- 
Charles. ^rears unpaid. 



78 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" His personal estate in corne and > 

household stuffe, amounts to 3 

" In timber and wood 400 

"In debts upon specialityes and > „ — 
, . . \ '^ J I 100 

otherwise owing to him 3 

" He oweth upon a Statute to John > 
Mylton S 

" He is indebted more before these \ 
times by specialityes and otherwise to f 
severall persons, as appeares by affi-f 
davit J 

"He lost by reason of these war res three thou- 
sand powndes 

" This is a true particular of the reall and per- 
sonall estate that he doth desire to compound for 
with this honorable committee, wherein he doth sub- 
mitt himselfe to such fine as they shall impose accord- 
ing to the articles of Oxford, wherein he is comprised. 
(Signed) " Richard Powell. 

* Received 21° Novembris, 1646." 

But before this return of his property had been 
made, he had received the following protection. 

11. " Sir Thomas Fairfax, knight, generall of the 
forces reaised by the Parliament. 

" Suffer the bearer hereof, Mr. Richard Powell 
of Forrest Hill in the county of Oxon, who was in 
the city and garrison of Oxford, at the surrender 
thereof, and is to have the full benefit of the articles 
agreed unto upon the surrender, quietly, and with- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 79 

out let or interruption, to passe your guards with his 
servants, horses, armes, goods, and all other neces- 
saries ; and to repaire unto London, or elsewhere, 
upon his necessary occasions. And in all places 
where he shall reside, or whereto he shall remove, 
to be protected from any violence to his person, 
goods, or estate, according to the said articles ; and 
to have full liberty, at any time within six months, 
to goe to any convenient port, and to transport him- 
selfe, with his servants, goods, and necessaries, be- 
yond seas ; and in all other things to enjoy the be- 
nefit of the said articles. Hereunto due obedience 
is to be given by all persons whom it may concerne, 
as they will answer the contrary. Given under my 
hand and seal the 27th day of June 1646. 

(Signed) " T. Fairfax. 

" To all officers and souldiers under my com- 
mand, and to all others whom it may concerne." 
Indorsed, " Richard Powell, No. 1137. Dec. 1646. 
Reported, 1° Oct. 1649. Fine 180Z." 

We come now to other documents, which also 
relate to the property of Mr. Powell ; in which the 
connection of Milton with Forest Hill is found so 
early as in 1627, while he was a student at Cam- 
bridge ; a circumstance unknown to all the biogra- 
phers of the poet. And here he might have been 
subsequently an occasional visitor; he might have 
been known to the villagers, and thus have given 
rise to the tradition already mentioned of his resi- 
dence at the place ; and might at a later period 



80 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

(for she was but young when married in 1643) have 
tendered his heart to Mary Powell. Yet he never 
told his love. And accordingly his nephew Phillips 
relates, as a matter of marvel, that after an absence 
from London for a month, nobody knowing the 
reason, his uncle returned with a wife. But it may 
be thought, that the union had been planned by 
their relations in 1627, (for the grandfather of Mil- 
ton and Mr. Powell were neighbours,) when the lady 
was but a child ; and that the recorded debt, which 
will presently appear, was the security for her future 
dower. If such was the case, Milton bestowed the 
month of absence from London upon Forest Hill, in 
order to fulfil the precontract. But supposing this 
absence to have brought him to Forest Hill for the 
first time, and the debt to have been upon another 
account, we may imagine him arrived for the pur- 
pose of soliciting the payment of it, and the impres- 
sion to have been then made upon his heart by the 
lady. In either case it is certain that he returned, 
with his uncancelled debt, perhaps like his own Adam, 
" fondly overcome with female charm." And indeed 
he seems to apologize, as it were, for this his seem- 
ing hasty match, in his own Samson Agonistes ; 
where allusions to his first marriage, it has been 
often asserted, are strongly drawn : 

" The first I saw at Timna, and she pleas d 
A Me, not my parents, that I sought to wed 
" The daughter of an infidel T 

Enough, however, is shewn to render questionable 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 81 

what Dr. Symmons has written in his Life of the 
poet respecting his residence at Forest Hill ; and 
enough will soon be produced to justify the wish, 
that in this assertion an uncalled-for reflection upon 
a highly respectable and loyal family had not been 
embodied. " We may be certain? the learned bio- 
grapher says, " that Milton never saw Forest Hill 
after his departure from it on his marriage; nor 
ever resided there longer than during the month 
of his courtship. In this interval it is possible, 
though, as I think, not probable, that he wrote 
L'AUegro and II Penseroso ; and if to the impression 
of Forest Hill, and its scenery, we are indebted for 
the production of these exquisite pieces, we may for- 
give it for its offence as the seat, and perhaps the 
birth-place, of the proud and paltry Powells." 

I now produce the petition and depositions of the 
poet, which are preceded by the subsequent Report. 

12. " r According to your order of the 25th of Fe- 
bruary 1650, upon the petition of John Milton, de- 
siring to compound for certaine lands lately belong- 
ing to Richard Powell, Gent, deceased, extended by 
the petitioner, who alledgeth in his petition that he 
petitioned here to the same purpose about the mid- 
dle of August last ; I have examined, and find : 

" The 11th of June 1627, Richard Powell of 
Forrest Hill, in the County of Oxford, Gent, and 

r Royalists' Composition Papers, First Series, Vol. xli. No. 
1298. 



82 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LTFE 

William Hearne of London, citizen and goldsmith, 
acknowledged a statute-staple of 500/. unto John 
Milton the petitioner, defeazanced by John Milton, 
the petitioner's father, on the behalfe of the peti- 
tioner, upon payment of 312/. the 12th of Decem- 
ber, then next ensuing, as by a copie of the said 
statute deposed by Thomas Gardner, and by the 
counterpart of the defeazance produced by the pe- 
titioner appears. Since which the said Richard 
Powell and William Hearne are both dead, as is 
informed. 

" The 5th of August 1647, the Sheriffe of the 
County of Oxford, upon an inquisition taken upon 
the said statute, did seise into the King's hand cer- 
taine messuages, lands, and tithes, in Whateley, 
whereof the said Richard Powell in his life was 
seised in his demesne as of fee ; a third part wherof 
Anne his wife [claims^] for her life as her dower, of 
the cleare yearly value of 58/. 3s. 4<d. The which 
messuages and premisses the said Sheriffe, by virtue 
of a liberate, did the 20th of November 1647 deli- 
ver unto the petitioner, to hold unto him and his 
assignees as his frank tenement untill he were satis- 
fied his said debt of 500/. with damages, costs, and 
charges. As by a copie of the liberate, and the exe- 
cution thereof deposed by the said Thomas Gardner, 
appeares. 

" And the petitioner deposeth, that since the ex- 
tending the said statute, he hath received at severall 
tymes for the same, and costs of suit, the summe of 
180/. or thereabouts ; and that there is yet remain- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 83 

ing due and owing unto him of the principall money, 
interest, and costs of suit, the summe of 300/. or 
thereabouts : and further deposeth that neither he 
nor any other for him or by his direction, privity, or 
consent, hath released or otherwise discharged the 
said statute ; and that he doth not know or conceive 
any reason either in law, or equity, why he should 
not receive the said remainder of his debt, damages, 
and costs of suit. 

" And the petitioner by a particular under his 
hand saith, that the said tithes and lands extended 
by him, and whereof the said Richard Powell was 
seized in his demesne as of fee, and for which he de- 
sireth to compound, are of the cleare yearly value of 
80/. 

" And he craves to be allowed 26/. 13s. 4<d. per 
annum, during the life of Anne Powell, the relict of 
the said Richard, being a third part of the said 80/. 
for her dower. 

" And he craves alsoe to be allowed his said debt 
of 300/. All which is submitted to judgement. 
(Signed) " Pet. Brereton. 

" 4° Mar. 1650." 

" To the Honourable the Commissioners for Se- 
questration at Haberdashers' Hall, the Petition of 
John Milton, 

" Sheweth, 

u That he being to compound by the late Act 
for certaine lands at Whately in Oxfordshire, belong- 
ing to Mr. Richard Powell late of Forest Hill in the 

G 2 



84 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

same County, by reason of an s extent which he hath 
upon the same lands by a statute, did put in his Pe- 
tition about the middle of August last, which was 
referred accordingly ; but having had important bu- 
siness ever since by order of the Councell of State, 
he hath had no time to proceed in the perfeting of 
his composition ; and in the mean time finds that 
order hath bin giv'n out from hence to forbidd his 
tenants to pay him rent : He therefore now desires 
he may have all convenient dispatch, and that the 
Order of Sequestring may be recalled, and that the 
composition may be moderated as much as may bee, 
in regard that Mrs. Powell the Widow of the said 
Mr. Richard Powell hath her cause depending before 
the Commissioners in the Painted Chamber for breach 
of Articles, who have adjudg'd her satisfaction to be 
made for the great damage don her by seizing and 
selling the personall estate divers days after the 
Articles were seald. But by reason of the expiring 
of that Court she hath receivd as yet no satisfaction, 
and beside she hath her thirds out of that land which 
was not considered when her Husband followed his 
composition ; and lastly the taxes, free quartering, 
and finding of armes, were not then considered, 
which have bin since very great and are likely to be 
greater. 

s To this document is subjoined in the margin of it the follow- 
ing attestation, of which a fac-simile is given, entirely in Milton's 
hand-writing : " I doe swear that this debt for which I am to 
compound according to my petition is a true and real debt, as will 
appear upon record. John Milton, Jur. 25. Feb. 1650." 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 85 

"And your Petitioner shall be ready to pay what 
shall be thought reasonable at any day that shall be 
appointed. 

(Signed) " John Milton. 

"25 Feb. 1650. 
" Mr. Brereton is desired by y e 
Com rs to perfect his report in Mr. 
Milton's case by Tuesday next." 

" A Particular of the lands late Richard Powell's 
of Forrest Hill,, in the County of Oxford, now under 
extent, and for which John Milton, Esquire, desi- 
reth to compound. 

" The said Richard Powell was^v 

seised in his demeasne as of fee off 

the tythe corne of Whatley and cer- > 

J i P er annum - 

taine cottages then of the cleare I 

yearlye value of J 

" The said Richard was seised alsoe -v 

in his demeasne as of fee of three / 20 

yards - of land, arable and pasture, of f per annum. 

the cleare yearly value of ) 

" Out of which he craveth to be 

allowed for the thirds which he paieth L 

to Mrs. Anne Powell, the Relict of the i 

said Richard Powell, for her Dower. 



" And alsoe craveth that his just 
;bt of three h 
ith deposed, 
his composition. 



debt of three hundred poundes, as he ( 
hath deposed, may be allowed uponT 



" John Milton." 



86 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



" Whereas Richard Powell of Forrest Hill, in the 
County of Oxford, Gent, and William Hearne, late 
Cittizen and Goldsmith of London, deceased, by 
their writing or recognizance of the nature of a sta- 
tute-staple, beareing date the eleventh day of June, 
which was in the third yeare of the raigne of the late 
King Charles of England, &c. made and provided 
for the recovery of debts, and taken, acknowledged, 
and sealed, before Sir Nicholas Hide, Knight, then 
Lord Cheife Justice of the Court then called the 
Kings Bench att Westminster, did acknowledge 
themselves to owe unto John Milton, then of the 
University of Cambridge, Gentleman, sonne of 
John Milton, Cittizen and Scrivener of London, the 
somme of five hundred poundes of lawfull money of 
England, which said statute or recognizance is by a 
writing, beareing even date therewith, defeazanced 
for the payment of the somme of three hundred and 
twelve pounds of like money unto the said John 
Milton the sonne, his executors, administrators, or 
assignes, on the twelveth day of December then 
next ensuing, as by the said statute or recognizance 
and defeazance thereupon, whereunto relation being 
had more att large may appeare. Now I, John Mil- 
ton, the sonne, (being one and the same partie before 
mentioned for Cognizee in the said statute or recog- 
nizance) doe make oath that (since the extending of 
the said statute) I have received att severall tymes 
in part of satisfaction of my said just and principall 
debt, with dammages for the same and my costs of 
suite, the somme of one hundred and fowerscore 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



87 



pounds or thereabouts, and that there is yett re- 
mayneing due and oweing unto mee of my said prin- 
cipal! money, interest, and costs of suite, the somme 
of three hundred pounds or thereabouts : And I doe 
further make oath, that neither I the said John 
Milton or any other for mee or by my direction, 
privity, or consent, have or hath released or other- 
wise discharged the said statute or recognizance; 
neither doe I knowe or conceive any reason or cause 
either in law, or equity, why I should not receive 
the said remainder of my said debt, dammages, and 
costs of suite. 

K . 7X T _ .. C Jur : coram Com ns . 

(Signed) « John Milton. [ ^ ^ ^ 

(Signed) " E. Winslow." 

Indorsed, " Milton John Esq. 4°. Martii 1650. 
Fine 130/." 

Reverting now for a moment to the time of Mil- 
ton's reconciliation with his wife, it was settled, we 
find, that she should reside in the house of a friend, 
till his new mansion, which he had procured in Bar- 
bican, was ready for the reception of the encreased 
household ; her father and mother, her brothers and 
sisters. The biographers of the poet suppose, that 
they left him soon after the death of his own father, 
who also, they say, then lived with him, and ended 
a long life in 1647. But Mr. Powell likewise then 
ceased to mourn over his own and the country's 
misery ; dying in debt, 1500/. ; having lost " by the 
wars/' 3000/. ; and leaving a widow with " scanty 



oo SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

subsistence for herself and nine children/' sued at 
the same time for debts in the courts of law which 
she was unable to pay, and deprived of property 
which she had been led to believe would have been 
secure : And it was, in consequence of his death, 
that his family left the roof of Milton. 

This brings us to the last scene of domestick cir- 
cumstances, hitherto unexplored, in the history of 
Milton and his first wife ; and it shews us, what is 
painful to see, the mother of that wife still imploring 
her thirds in vain, together with some reflections 
upon the temper and conduct of Milton. 

13. " * Anne Powell, the Widowe of Richard 
Powell of Forresthill, in y e County of Oxoii, Esquire, 
maketh oath, that y e said Rich : Powell, her late 
Husband, died neere the first day of January, in the 
yeare of our Lord one thousand sixe hundred 
fowrtie sixe, at the howse of M r . John Milton, sci- 
tuate in Barbican, London : 
" Jur. cor. Com riis . 
27°. Feb. 1650. R. M 



> (Signed) " Anne Powell." 



". To the Hono ble . Comissioners for Composi- 
cons &c. 

" The humble peticSn of Anne Powell, Widow, &c. 
" Sheweth, 

" That your petitioner brought a considerable 

1 First Series of Royalists' Compos. Papers, in his Majesty's 
State-Paper Office, vol. 1. No. 1540. 42, 64, 65, 66, and 2. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 89 

porcon to her sd husband, w ch was worth to him 
3000/, yet through the carelessnes of her freindes and 
relying upon her husband's good will therein, hee 
haveing had many losses in his estate, by reason 
of the warrs, and otherwise, your petitioner had noe 
joynture made unto her, nor hath any thing at all 
left her, but her thirdes, w ch is due by lawe, for the 
maintenance of herself and u eight children ; haveing 
sustained 1000Z in their personall estate's losse, by 
the Committees in y e county, contrary to the Articles 
of Oxon. Shee most humbly prayes your Honors 
will please, being the fine is now agreed to bee paid 
by M r . Milton for the said estate, that shee may 
continue the enjoym*. of her thirdes, as formerly, w ch 
she humbly conceaves, had not the fine been paid, 
as aforesaid, yet your Honors would not have 
abridged your petitioner of her thirdes, in this case, 
for the maintenance of herself and poore children. 
" And she shall pray, &c. 

" 19° Apr. 1651. (Signed) " Anne Powell." 

" The pet r . left to the law." 

Upon this petition observations or notes are then 
made, as follow. 

" By y e law shee (Mrs. Powell) might recover her 
thirdes, without doubt ; but she is so extreame poore, 

u Perhaps one of her nine children, before mentioned, p. 74, 
was now dead ; there being an interval of more than a year and 
a half between the two statements. Or she might be now desired 
not to include the wife of Milton as maintained by her. 



90 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

she hath not wherewithall to prosecute ; and besides, 
M r . Milton is a harsh and cholericke man, and 
married M rs . Powells daughter, who woidd be un- 
done, if any such course were taken ag l . him by 
M rs . Powell: he having turned away his wife 
heretofore for a long space, upon K some other 
occasion. 

" This note ensuing Mr. Milton writ, whereof 
this is a copy. 

66 Although I have compounded for my extent, 
and shal be so much the longer in receiving my debt, 
yet at the request of M rs . Powell, in regard of her 
present necessitys, I am contented, as farr as belongs 
to my consent, to allow her the 3 ds of what I receive 
from that estate, if the Com rs . shall so order it, that 
what I allow her, may not be reckoned upon my 
accompt." 

(Indorsed.) " The estate is wholly extended, 
and a saving as to the 3 d . prayed, but 
not graunted ; We cannot therefore 
allow the 3 ds . to the petitioner." 

" To the Hon ble . the Com rs . for Compounding &c. 

" The humble peticon of Anne Powell, Widow, &c. 

" Sheweth, 

" That your petitioner brought 3000/. porcon 
to her late husband, and is now left in a most sadd 
condicon, the estate left being but 80/. p ann, the 

x Instead of some other occasion, there had been written a 
small occasion, which is crossed through with the pen. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 91 

thirds whereof is but 26. 13* 4, to maintaine her self 
and 8 children. 

" The said estate being extended by Jo. Milton,, on 
a Statute Staple, for a debt of 300/, for w ch he hath 
compounded with yo r Hono rs , on y e Act of y e first of 
August, and therein allowance given him for y e 
pet rs . thirds ; yet the said M r . Milton expects your 
further order therein, before he will pay the same. 
She therefore humbly prayeth your Honors' order 
and direccon to y e said M r . Milton, for the paym*. 
of her said thirds, and the arreares thereof, to pre- 
serve her and her children from starving. 

" And as in duty bound &c. 
(Signed) " Anne Powell. 

" To be Rec d . next petition day, S. M. 

" July the 14 th . 1651. 16° July 1651," 

" To y e Hon We . the Com", for reliefe upon Arti- 
cles. 

" The humble peticon of Anne Powell, Widow, &c. 

" Sheweth, 

" That your petitioner's late husband was com- 
prised in y e Articles of Oxford, as appeares by the 
Certificate of y e late L d . Gen 11 . Fairfax, already be- 
fore this Court in yo r pet rs behalf. That within the 
time limited by the said Articles y r pet rs s d husband 
preferred his peticon, at Goldsmiths' Hall, and was 
admitted to compound, according to y e s d Articles, 
for his estate reall and personal, as may appeare by 
y c Certificate of y e Com" for compounding, already 
likewise before this Hon ble Court. That her s d hus- 



92 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

band dyed seised of an Estate in Fee (lying in 
Wheatley, in y e County of Oxon.) whereof yo r pet r 
claymeth her Dower ; which, upon her s d husband's 
death, was assigned to her by y e heire of her s d 
husband, and accordingly was enjoyed, for some 
tyme, by yo r peticoV. That John Milton Esq. did 
extend the said lands in Fee, by virtue of a Statute 
to him acknowledged by yo r pet" s d husband, be- 
fore y e late warres ; but long after yo r pet rs mar- 
riage to her s d husband. The s d John Milton by 
virtue of an act of Parliam 1 , i mo August, 1650. was 
required to bring in a Perticuler of y e lands, so ex-, 
tended by him, to y e Com rs for compounding, and 
accordingly did pay the composicon due for y e s d 
lands : And yo r pet r offered also to compound for 
her Dower, but could neither be admitted to com- 
pound for her s d Dower, nor obtayne an Order from 
y e s d Corn" to receive it, w th out a composicon: So 
y* for nigh these two yeares shee hath bin, and still 
is, debarred of her Dower, which is most justly due 
unto her. Yo r pet r humbly prayeth, That shee 
may bee forthw th restored to her Dower, most 
wrongfully detained from her : That your Ho- 
nors will seriously consider this, and those other 
greate pressures (represented in a former peti- 
con, now depending before you) under which 
yo r pet r being a mother of seven fatherlesse 
children, (since one of them, Capt. William Powell, 
Capt, Lieuten 1 to Lieuten 1 Gen 11 Monck, was some 
few dayes past slaine in Scotland in y e service of 
y e P r liamK) hath, for a long time, groaned, by 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



93 



y e most injurious violacon of her Articles : And 
that you will speedily proceed to give her such 
reliefe in this and her other grievances by her Arti- 
cles, and otherwise in justice shee makes suite to 
have. 

" And yo r Pet r shall ever pray, &c. 

(Signed) " Anne Powell. 
(Signed) " Trace y Pauncefote, Reg r ." 

In the preceding documents Milton is pronounced, 
with an evident desire to give him no further provo- 
cation, " a harsh and cholerick man, he having 
turned away his wife upon some other occasion." 
And upon this temper and conduct a somewhat 
similar reflection is made in the answer of one of his 
antagonists, so late as in 1660. " y Since you grew 
so wise, as to throw aside your wife because your 
waspish spirit could not agree with her qualities, 
and your crooked phantasy could not be brought 
to take delight in her, you then grew so free," &c. 
However this may have been, while his first wife and 
he were separated, and while he was immersed in ela- 
borate discussions connected with the misfortune, he 
had not been without mental amusement. His leisure 
hours often passed smoothly away in visits to a lady 
of the most engaging talents and conversation, the 
daughter of the Earl of Marlborough ; to whom, as 
to her husband, Captain Hobson, a very accomplished 

y The Dignity of Kingship asserted, in Answer to Mr. Milton's 
Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth, &c. 
By G. S. A lover of loyalty, 1660. p. 111. 



94 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

gentleman, his company was peculiarly acceptable. 
His tenth Sonnet, inscribed to this discerning lady, is 
a grateful acknowledgement of his esteem. His time 
also had been employed in collecting together his 
early poems, both English and Latin, for the press. 
They were first published by Humphrey Moseley, 
the general publisher of the poets of his day, in 
1645 ; who tells us, in his Address to the Reader, 
that " the author's more peculiar excellency in these 
studies was too well known to conceal his papers, 
or to keep me from attempting to sollicit them from 
him. Let the event guide itself which way it will, 
I shall deserve of the age, by bringing into the light 
as true a birth as the Muses have brought forth since 
our famous Spencer wrote ; whose poems in these 
English ones are as rarely imitated, as sweetly ex- 
celled." Mosely was not more discerning than Mil- 
ton was modest. But modesty was a principal fea- 
ture in Milton's character. He affixed only his ini- 
tials to Lycidas : he acknowledged, with hesitation, 
Comus. It is rather surprising, that Mr. Warton 
should have * asserted that, for seventy years after 
their first publication, he recollects no mention of 
these poems in the whole succession of English lite- 
rature ; and that the quantity of an hemistich, quoted 
from them, is not to be found in the Collections of 
those who have digested the Beauties or Phrases of 
the English Poets from 1655 to 1738 inclusively. 
I can positively assert that in the edition of Poole's 

z In the Prefaces to both his Editions of the Smaller Poems. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 95 

English Parnassus, or Help to English Poesie, 
published in 1677, there are few a pages in which 
quotations may not be found from Milton's poetry. 
In the preface also to Ayres's Lyrich Poems, pub- 
lished in 1687, Milton is thus noticed : " If any. one 
quarrel at the oeconomy or structure of these poems, 
many of them being Sonnets, Canzons, Madrigals, 
&c. objecting that none of our great men, either Mr. 
Waller, Mr. Cowley, or Mr. Dry den, whom it was 
most proper to have followed, have ever stooped to 
any thing of this sort ; I shall very readily acknow- 
ledge, that, being sensible of my own weakness and 
inability of ever attaining to the performance of one 
thing equal to the worst piece of theirs, it easily dis- 
swaded me from that attempt, and put me on this ; 
which is not without president : For many eminent 
persons have published several things of this nature, 
and in this method, both Translations and Poems of 
their own ; as the famous Mr. Spencer, Sir Philip 
Sidney, Sir Richard Fanshaw, Mr. Milton, and some 
few others : The success of all which, in these things, 
I must needs say, cannot much be boasted of; and 
though I have little reason, after it, to expect credit 
from these my slight Miscellanies, yet has it not dis- 
couraged me from adventuring on what my genius 
prompted me to." I may further observe that 
U Allegro and II Penseroso appear to have some- 
times caught the notice of Robert Herrick, in his 

a And, to the credit of Poole's selection, I may add that the 
examples are very often taken from Lycidas, V Allegro and II 
Penseroso, and the Ode on the Nativity. 



96 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Hesperides, published in 1648 ; and that both the 
ease and imagery of these poems are certainly copied, 
in a few instances, by Andrew Marvell, the intimate 
friend of Milton. 

In 1647 Milton removed to a smaller house in 
Holborn, which opened backward into Lincoln's-Inn 
fields ; and continued to instruct a few scholars. 
Phillips tells us, that " he is much mistaken, if there 
was not about this time a design of making him an 
adjutant-general in Sir William Waller's army. But 
the new modelling of the army proved an obstruc- 
tion to the design." This perhaps may be doubted, 
when it is considered that Waller was esteemed a 
leader of the Presbyterians against the designs of 
the Independents. Milton, in his military capacity 
could not have served cordially under a general so 
disposed. 

Early in 1648 he appears to have rendered, into 
English metre, nine of the Psalms, which are printed 
with his Poetical Works ; while the first seven are 
found not to have been thus translated by him before 
1653. There were now in circulation other new 
metrical versions of the Psalms, none of which ac- 
quired popularity, although recommended by puri- 
tanical influence. Nor was the criticism of bishop 
Henry King, himself a versifier of this description, 
successful in reforming these metrical labours : " I 
was discouraged," he says, in a letter to archbishop 
Usher in 1651, " in my translation, knowing that 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



97 



Mr. George Sandys, and lately one of our pretended 
reformers, had failed in two different extremes ; the 
first too elegant for the vulgar use ; the other as 
flat and poor, as lamely worded, &c. as the old." 
The pretended reformer, perhaps, was Francis 
Rouse, the Presbyterian provost of Eton college. 

Till the overthrow of the kingly government in 
the death of Charles, the pen of Milton now appears 
to have been unemployed. It was b resumed in order 
to silence the outcry, raised by the Presbyterians, 
against the deed of blood ; and to advance the in- 
terests of the infant commonwealth. The product 
of it was entitled, " The Tenure of Kings and 
Magistrates, proving that it is lawfull, and hath 
been held so through all ages, for any, who have the 
power, to call to account a tyrant, or wicked king ; 
and, after due conviction, to depose, and put him to 
death, if the ordinary magistrate have neglected or 
denied to do it : And that they, who of late so much 
blame deposing, are the men that did it themselves, 
1648-9." Milton seems to have been not correct in 

b " Liber iste, [The Tenure &c] non nisi post mortem regis 
prodiit, ad componendos potius hominum animos factus, quam 
ad statuendum de Carolo quicquam," &c. Milton, Def. Sec. 
This treatise, Phillips says, reviving the fame of other things 
Milton had formerly published ; he was more and more taken 
notice of for his excellency of style, and depth of judgement ; 
was courted into the service of the new Commonwealth ; and at 
last prevailed with (for he never hunted after preferment, nor af- 
fected the hurry of publick business,) to take upon him the office 
of Latin secretary, &c. 



98 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

his charge. He should have added the Papists and 
Independents, who were banded in firm league 
against the Church and the King. He remembered, 
however, the assistance which had been afforded by 
the Pope, when he wrote his treatise Of True Reli- 
gion four and twenty years afterwards ; of whom he 
says, "we have shaken off his Babylonish yoke, 
[[who] hath not ceased by his spies and agents, bulls 
and emissaries, once to destroy both King and 
Parliament." On this part of English history it 
cannot be uninteresting to enlarge. H I shall here 
say no more," says the editor of a very curious 
c tract, " than that the doctrine which was practis'd 
in forty eight, was published in English in twenty 
one, in the book entitled The Rights of the Pre- 
late and the Prince, as good Roman Catholick divi- 
nity, by J. E. with Licence of Superiors ; and conse- 
quently, that John Goodwin and John Milton were 
not the first broachers of it in England. The strain 
of the whole book is of that nature, and the follow- 
ing words are part of it, ch. 15. p. 375. And if 
Kings, who were not excommunicated nor deprived 
by the Pope, may by the Commonwealth be depos'd 
and kill'd, where they are intolerable tyrants ; why 
may not the Commonwealth exercise the same power 
over tyrants excommunicated and deprived by the 

c " Certaine passages which happened at Newport in the Isle 
of Wight, Nov. 29, 1648, relating to King Charles I. Written 
by Mr. Edward Cooke, of Highnam in Gloucestershire, some- 
time Colonel of a Regiment under Oliver Cromwell. Lond. 
1690." 4 to . 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 99 

Pope, they, after excommunication and deprivation, 
being no more Kings, but private men V 

The subject indeed had been before discussed in 
a very interesting discourse, of which the title is, 
" Herod and Pilate reconciled : Or, The Concord 
of Papist and Puritan (against Scripture, Fathers, 
Councels, and other Orthodoxall Writers) for the 
Coercion, Deposition, and Killing of Kings. Dis- 
covered by David Owen, Batchelour of Divinitie, 
&c. Cambridge, 1610," 4 to . To this point I may 
also apply an extract from u Foxes and Firebrands ; 
or a Specimen of the danger and harmony of Popery 
and Separation ;" attributed by some to Dr. Nelson, 
by others to Sir James Ware : " But that which 
makes the thing plain, is the discovery which was 
made to Sir William Boswell by Andreas ab Hab- 
nerfeld ; which was communicated first by Sir Wil- 
liam to my Lord of Canterbury, and by him trans- 
mitted to the King then at York, Novemb. 1640. 
The whole is printed by itself, and in d Rushworth's 
Collections ; and is too long here to insert ; but the 
principal parts and matter of the plot was this : That 
there was a design on foot, by the Papists, against 
the King and the Archbishop. That, to effect this, 
the Scottish commotions were raised, and fomented 
by the Jesuits ; that they exasperated the English 
Dissenters by the severity used against Pryn, Bur- 
ton, and Bastwick ; and the Scots, by the fears of 



J Hist. Collect, p. 1314. 
h2 



100 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Popery upon the imposition of the Common-Prayer 
book ; that Cuneus or Con, the Pope's Legate, and 
Chamberlain a Scot, Chaplain and Almoner to Car- 
dinal Richlieu, were the great negociators of this 
conspiracy ; and that the design was to embroil these 
nations in a civil war. The troubles came on so 
fast, as may well be supposed, precipitated for fear 
of a further prosecution of this discovery, that the 
Archbishop lost his head for refusing a cardinal's 
hat, and opposing the Scottish Covenanters ; and the 
King his, because he would not give away the crown, 
and put down the mitre, by granting toleration, 2d. 
edit. 1682, pp. 50, 51." It was one of the threats 
of the Covenanters, that " the Enemy should be 
forced either to give Liberty of Conscience to the 
Catholicks, or put themselves in danger of losing all, 
p. 48." Other proofs of the e combination might be 
added. And the following narrative is too curious 
to be here omitted. It is from the pen of Dr. Bar- 
grave, (whose manuscript I have already noticed,) 
who was particularly acquainted with Holstenius, 
one of Milton's friends. Being at Rome, he says, 
" Cardinel Rossetti was shewed to me to take more 
perticuler notice of him, because that he had binn 
almost 3 yeares in England the Popes Nuntio In- 
cognito, as you may find in the Italian Historian 
mentioned in the margent f . 

e See more particularly Rennet's Register, 1728, pp. 539, 540. 
And Lord StrafTorde's Letters, 1739, vol. ii. p. 74. 

f II Conte Bisaceione Delle Guerre Civili D'Inghilterra, Edit. 
2 a . 1653, p. 17. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 101 

u An°. 1639 There arriued (sayth he) at London, 
to reside at the Court as a gentleman traueler, sent 
by Cardinal Barberino, but effectually he was the 
Pope's Nuntio, by name Charles Rosetti, an Earle 
by birth ; whoe had taken vpon him the Church 
habite of a Prelate ; whoe was of a greate spirit, 
actiue, and prudent ; able to vndertake business of 
the greatest difflcultie. He was valerous of heart, 
had a learned tongue, was quick in parts, in breif he 
was such an one, that his fellow could not be fownde 
in all the Court of Rome. His letters were dated at 
Rome the 16 th . of Aprill : (and then my Author 
telleth us a secret that we are not to know, viz.) 
And because that in England he woare a Secular 
habit, and tooke vpon him no other name but of 
Conte Rossetti, therefore I will allso hide, where I 
haue occasion to mention him, his ecclesiasticall title 
of Monsignore, and giue him onely the title of his 
noble famely g . Vpon his comming to Court, and 
being courteously receiued, all things went well with 
the Ro : Catholicks ; and those Preists, that by law 
were to be punished with Death, were onely ba- 
nished. This was the Spring time of the Catholick 
Religion in that kingdome, which florished bij the 
sweete favourable blasts of the Conte Rossetti! 
Vpon this, libels went about that h the King and 
Archbishop were Popish &c. ; wherevpon the Arch- 
bishop aduised the King to rid his Court of the 
Roman Ministers, and to renew the rigour of the 

* P. 18. h P. 22. 



102 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

law. The Conte Rossetti, hearing of this, wold not 
hide the Interesse for which he was at London ; but, 
vpon this occasion, being made more vigorouse of 
courrage in this time of dainger, thought that now 
an opportunety was giuen him to captiuate the 
Kings soul, and to conduct him to the Catholick 
Fayth ! vpon which he broke his minde to a confi- 
dent Courtier of theires, whoe yet doubted how to 
effect it. Rossetti, having bin persuaded by the 
Queene to write to the Pope for abowt an 100000 lb 
sterling to supplie the Kings necesseties, His Holi- 
ness his answer was, ' That the Pope was very ready 
to supply the King so soone as euer he should de- 
clare him selfe a Catholick, the onely auaylable 
meanes to loosen the chaines of the Treasurie of the 
Castle of St. Angelo at Rome. But, for a King 
that should turne to the bosom of the Church, he 
would lay hands upon that Sacred Treasorie, other- 
wise shut vp and impenetrable &c. — Where one may 
reade a greate many Intreegues abowt the lending 
of this mony, k and how resolutely the King with- 
stood theire attempts, and how Rossetti assalted the 
two Archbishops to returne to the Roman Fayth \ 
And then we haue mention of Rossetti's letter to the 
King to perswade him to turn Papist. But he find- 
ing his Ma: tie vnmooveable and firme as a rock, 
that strongly resisteth the fury of stormes and tem- 
pests, hauing his Faith fixed and fastned to a more 
sure foundation ; this latent m Nuntio gaue ouer his 

* P. 31. k P. 32,33. ' P. 34. m P. 35. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 103 

fruitless designe. Finding (saith my Author) that 
he gaue light vnto the blinde, that he spake to one 
that was deaft, and, as the prouerb hath it, wold 
with water wash a blackmore white, the (latent) 
Nuntio forsooke him; and stole owt of England' 
(for feare of the Parliament that scented him) by the 
help of Sig r . Giustiniano the Venetian Imbassador, 
and at his comeing to Rome fu decor ato della 
Porpora Vaticana. 

" Though he was forced to be gone, yet the 
effects of his Nuntiature lasted all the Ciuill Warr, 
especially amongst the Irish Rebells 11 . To dis- 
prooue the calomny that was raysed upon the King 
(probably both by Papist and Presbyterians) he vsed 
all the meanes he could to shew that he was a cor- 
diall Protestant, as is seen by his mony then coyned. 
So in the seuerall Speeches that he made at the 
head of his Army, one of them, sayth my Author, 
hath this passage ° : * If I tooke a wife of an other 
Religion being of the Roman faith, it was with a 
Universall Consent : If the Lord Rossetti came to 
my Court, I used him courteously, as a noble man 
and a strainger, as it is fitt for Princes to doe, and 
yet vpon onely suspition, and not guilt of any wrong 
to England, I sent him away.' — My Author in ano- 
ther place p , speaking of the death of Archbishop 
Laud on the Scaffold, by way of scoffe sayth — It 
had bin better for him to haue turned Catholick, 

n P. 44. ° P. 80. p P. 124. 



104 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



and to haue gonn to Rome, as he had binn aduised, 
by the prudent counsell of the Popes zealous 
Nuntio, Rossetti, now a Cardinally ! And, speaking 
of our Kings death, he hath this passage — His death 
wasforetould (so long ago as when he was Prince 
of Wales) when he was in Spaine, where he, going 
to visit a holy Nunne, whoe was much esteemed 
for her sanctity ; shee foretold him, that, if he 
did not hearhen to the inspirations of that light 
which his gardian Angell shold instruct him in, 
he shold dye a miserable death, and ruine all his 
progeny! This Angell was Cardinal Rossetti, 
whoe by his frequent inspirations, not internall, but 
to the eare and the eye, by the voice and by writings, 
by his eloquent and angelicall suggestions, indea- 
voured his conuersion to the Catholik Faith ; Card : 
Rossetti an Angel in practice ! Greate Minister of the 
Pope, and an Angel by his office, as being a Nuntio 
or Messenger ; a zealous Nuntio ! Whence it is no 
maruell, if what the holy Nunne foretold had its 
effect! 



" Card : Barberino at Rome ; This man his agent 
here ; Card : Mazarino in France ; And Gio : Ri- 
nuccini, Archbishop of Firmo in Italy and the Popes 
Nuntio in Ireland ; were the Popish Ecclesiasticks, 
that by the helpe of the Jesuites, in all probabilety, 
were the men that ruined the King and Kingdome 
vnder the new name and Cheate of independent; 



*» P. 177, 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 105 

I being tould beyond sea by muncks and fryars 
that I might heare Mass where I wold among the 
Independents ; that Word signefying onely Inde- 
pendent as to the Church of England, hut De- 
pendent as to the Church of Rome ; and so our 
warr was a warr of Religion to bring in Popery, and 
the King was a true martyr (that died for his Reli- 
gion) in reuenge for the death of the Queene of 
Scotts, his grandmother." — This acute traveller re- 
lates also that he was at Rome, on his fourth visit 
to that city, when Charles the second was restored ; 
which event, he says, " to my knowledge, was to 
the great griefe of the Triple Crowne and College 
of Cardinals, who thought to have binn masters of 
England." In another page he cites the Italian 
author, already mentioned, to show that " Charles 
the first suspected Mazzarino and the Imbassador 
of France to have had a hand in his troubles." 

From these communications, which the subject of 
Milton's book induced me to make, I proceed merely to 
mention his next publication, " Observations on the 
Articles of Peace between James Earl of Ormond, 
for King Charles I. on the one hand, and the Irish 
Papists and Rebels on the other," &c. which all his 
biographers have ascribed to him, improperly as it 
will presently be seen, before he became Latin Secre- 
tary. 

His life was yet private ; and he had entered upon 
his History of England ; of which he had written 



106 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

four books, when, without expectancy or solicitation 
of preferment, he was invited by the Council of 
State to be their Secretary for Foreign Tongues. 
They had determined not to write to others abroad, 
except in that language, which was common to them 
all, the Latin. Their choice, therefore, could not 
have fallen upon a more perfect r master of Latinity. 
Dr. Newton wishes that succeeding princes had fol- 
lowed this example of Latin correspondence; be- 
cause, " s in the opinion of very wise men, the uni- 
versality of the French language will make way for 
the universality of the French monarchy." It may 
be added, that Milton himself countenanced this 
opinion: " Then began the English to lay aside 
their own ancient customs, and in many things to 
imitate French manners ; the great peers to speak 
French in their houses, in French to write their bills 
and letters, as a great piece of gentility ; ashamed of 
their own : a presage of their subjection shortly 
to that people, whose fashions and language they 
affected so slavishly V 

r " Erat sane Miltonus purioris dicendi generis vehementer 
studiosus, quod et ipse diligentissime sectabatur, et qui Salma- 
sium, soloecismos aliquando admittentem, salse admodum per- 
stringebat." Literse Nom. Sen. Angl. ed. J. G. Pritius, Lips. 
1690. Pref. 

s Life of Milton. 

\ Hist, of England, B. vi. edit. 1698, p. 111. 



SECTION III. 



From his appointment as Secretary for Foreign Tongues, 
to the Restoration of King Charles the Seco?id. 

The Book of a Orders of the Council of State during 
the Usurpation, preserved in his Majesty's State- 
Paper Office, presents the poet addressed by a com- 
mittee, appointed for the purpose of inviting him 
into office, about six weeks after the martyrdom of 
the King. 

" 1648-9. March 13. Ordered, that Mr. White- 
locke, Sir Henry Vane, Lord Lisle, Earl of Den- 
bigh, Mr. Martyn, Mr. Lisle, or any two of them, 
be appointed a committee to consider what alliances 
the Crowne hath formerly had with Forreigne States, 
and what those States are ; and whether it will be 
fit to continue those allyances, or with how many of 
the said States ; and how farr they should be con- 
tinued, and upon what grounds ; and in what man- 



3 Now first presented to the publick eye, excepting three or 
four extracts embodied in Dr. Sumner's Introduction to his recent 
Translation of Milton's Treatise De Doctrind Christiand. 



108 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

ner applications and addresses should be made for 
the said continuance. 

" That it be referred to the same committee to 
speake with Mr. Milton, to know whether he will 
be employed as Secretary for the Forreigne 
Tongues ; and to report to the Councell. 

" 1648-9. March 15. Ordered, that Mr. John 
Milton be employed as Secretary for Forreigne 
Tongues to this Councell ; and that he have the 
same salarie, which Mr. b Weckherlyn formerly had 
for the same service. 

," 1648-9. March 22. Ordered, that the letters, 
now read, to be sent to Hamburgh, in behalf of the 
Company of Merchant-Adventurers, be approved ; and 
that they be translated into Latine by Mr. Milton. 

" 1649. March 26. Ordered, that the letters, 



b Mr. Weckherlyn presently occurs as Secretary Assistant for 
the business of Foreign Affairs. He had been before employed 
as Secretary for Foreign Affairs from the first establishment of 
the Joint Committee of both kingdoms in Feb. 1643-4. What 
his salary was, has not been ascertained. This gentleman, who 
was of German extraction, Granger says, was Latin Secretary to 
King Charles I. He was the author of poems, and of other lite- 
rary productions. See the Bodleian and the Brit. Mus. Cata- 
logues, Art. George Rodolph Wecherlin, or Weckerlin. His 
only daughter, according to Granger, was first wife to William 
Trumbull, Esq. and mother of the noted Sir W. Trumbull, the 
friend of Pope. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 109 

now brought in by Mr. Milton to the Senate of 
Hamburgh,, be approved ; and that Mr. Isaac Lee, 
Deputy of the Company of Merchant-Adventurers 
there, shall be appointed agent for the delivering of 
them. 

" 1649. March 26. Ordered, that Mr. Milton 
be appointed to make some observations upon a 
paper lately printed, called c Old and New Chains. 

" 1649. March 28. Ordered, that Mr. Milton 
be appointed to make some observations upon the 
complication of interest which is now amongst the 
several designers against the peace of the Common- 

c Of which paper the noted John Lilburne was the author. 
And, accordingly, it follows in the Council-Book, " Ordered, 
that Serjeant Dendy be appointed to make proclamation of the 
order of the House this day (March 27, 1649,) against the author 
of the booke called the New Chaines."' And on the following 
day it is ordered, " that Lieut. Colonel John Lilburne be com- 
mitted prisoner to the Tower, upon suspicion of high treason, 
for being the author, contriver, framer, or publisher, of a certayne 
scandalous and seditious booke printed, intituled England's New 
Chaynes discovered, &c." Wood says, that Lilburne divided 
his pamphlet into two parts, both published in 1648-9, the latter 
of which consisted only of one sheet. Whatever Milton's obser- 
vations might have been upon this subject, if any there were, are 
unknown. Of Lilburne, a libeller and incendiary, and an op- 
positionist to every government under which he lived, a character 
at large is drawn by Clarendon, Hist. Rebell. B. xiv. Judge 
Jenkins was used to say of him, in reference to his litigious dis- 
position, that if the world was emptied of all but John Lilburne, 
Lilburne would quarrel with John, and John would quarrel with 
Lilburne. 



110 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

wealth, and that it be made ready to be printed with 
the papers out of d Ireland, which the House hath 
ordered to be printed. 

" 1649. May 18. Ordered, that the French let- 
ters, given in to the House by the Dutch ambassa- 
dor, be translated by Mr. Milton ; and the rest of 
the letters, now in the House, be sent for and trans- 
lated. 

" 1649. May 30. Ordered, that Mr. Milton 
take the papers found with Mr. John Lee, and ex- 
amine them, to see what may be found in them. 



d The Articles of Peace between the Earl of Ormond and the 
Irish ; a Letter sent by Ormond to Colonel Jones, Governor of 
Dublin ; and a Representation of the Scotch Presbytery at Bel- 
fast : These, with his Observations, Milton now published ; and 
not before he was Latin Secretary. See what is before said, 
p. 105. In a tone of unqualified severity Milton says, " Having 
seen those articles of peace granted to the papist rebels of Ire- 
land, as special graces and favours from the late king, in reward, 
most likely, of their work done ; and in his name and authority 
confirmed by James Earl of Ormond ; together with his letter to 
Colonel Jones, full of contumely and dishonour both to the par- 
liament and army ; and on the other side an insolent and seditious 
representation from the Scots' Presbytery at Belfast, no less dis- 
honourable to the state ; there will be needful, as to the same 
slanderous aspersions, but one and the same vindication against 
them both. Nor can we sever them in our notice and resentment, 
though one part is entitled a Presbytery, and would be thought a 
Protestant assembly ; since their own unexampled virulence hath 
wrapt them into the same guilt, and made them accomplices and 
assistants to the abhorred Irish rebels," &c. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. Ill 

? 1649. June 23. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doe 
examine the papers of e Pragmaticus, and report 
what he finds in them to the Councell. 

" 1649. Nov. 12. Ordered, that Sir John Hip- 
pesley be spoken to, that Mr. Milton may be 
accommodated with those lodgings that he hath at 
Whitehall. 

" 1649. Nov. 19. Ordered, that Mr. Milton shall 
have the lodgings that were in the hands of Sir John 
Hippesley, in Whitehall, for his accommodation, as 
being Secretary to the Councell for Forreigne Lan- 
guages. 

" 1649. Nov. 29. Ordered, that a letter be 
written to the Commissioners of the Customes to 
desire them to give order, that a very strict search 
may be made of such ships as come from the Nether- 
lands for certaine scandalous bookes, which are there 
printed, against the government of this Common- 
wealth, entituled Defensio Regia, and which are 
designed to be sent over hither ; and to desire them, 
that if any of them upon search shall be found, that 
they may be sent up to the Councill of State, with- 

e The Mercurius Pragmaticus, a newspaper which made its 
first appearance in Sept. 1647. But the especial direction here 
points perhaps at the " Mercurius Pragmaticus for King Charles 
II. April 24, 1649." This newspaper was probably suppressed 
for a time. But we find " Mercurius Pragmaticus revived, No. 
1. June 30, 1651." See Nichols's Lit. Anecd, vol. iv. p. 48. 



112 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

out suffering any of them to be otherwise disposed 
of upon any pretence whatsoever. 

" That a warrant be directed to the Master and 
Wardens of the Company of Stationers, to the pur- 
pose aforesaid. 

" That the like letter be directed to Mr. Thomas 
Bendish, an officer in the port of Yarmouth, to take 
care of searching for the abovesaid booke, which is 
expected to come out of Holland. 

" 1649-50. Jan 8. Ordered, that one hundred 
pounds bee paid to Mr. Thomas Waring for his 
paines and charge in compiling of a booke contain- 
ing severall examinations of the Bloody Massacre 
in Ireland. 

" That Mr. Milton doe confer with some printers 
or stationers f concerning the speedy printing of this 
booke, and give an accompt of what he hath done 
therein to the Councell. 

" That Mr. Milton doe prepare something in an- 
swer to the booke of Salmasius, and when he hath 
done itt bring itt to the Councell." 

The Orders of Council have thus brought before 
us the great poet receiving directions to answer the 

f Nothing is known of such an employment by Milton. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON, 113 

Defensio Regia of Salmasius. But it is remark- 
able that no preceding command, or request, is 
found in these memorials, respecting the answer 
which Milton produced, in the latter part of 1649, 
to the Icon Basilike, or Portraiture of the late 
King in his Solitudes and Sufferings. And yet 
these orders commence their date within six weeks 
after the martyrdom of Charles ; at a time too, when 
the impression made upon the publick mind by the 
appearance of the Icon was very great, and t new 
editions of it were weekly if not daily passing through 
the press. That he was however desired, or invited, 
by the Council, (perhaps verbally,) to notice this 
popular publication, there can be no doubt. But 
he seems to have undertaken it upon his own terms : 
" s I take it upon me," he says, " as a work as- 
signed, rather than by me chosen or affected ; which 
was the cause both of beginning it late> and finish- 
ing it so leisurely in the midst of other employ- 
ments and diversions" So that the phrase which 
has been bestowed upon him, with other calumnies, 
of " a h mercenary Iconoclast" yet remains to be 
verified. If he was to be paid for this especial em- 
ployment, the paymasters would hardly have allowed 
him to begin late, and finish leisurely, what some 
have pretended was immediately requisite ; namely, 



■ Iconoelastes, Pref. 

h So Milton was called by Dr. R. Watson in his Fuller An- 
swer to Elymas the Sorcerer. See An Attempt towards the Cha- 
racter of King Charles I. 1738, p. 68. 

i 



114 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



a suppression of the book in question, or at least an 
arrest of its influence. Indeed, in these Orders of 
Council, not even a vote of thanks is recorded for 
his pains on the present occasion ; while for his reply 
to Salmasius, as we shall presently find, that compli- 
ment was studiously paid to him, though not the 
thousand pounds with which the controversy has 
hitherto been supposed to enrich him. But to re- 
sume the subject of the Icon. A suspicion that this 
book was not written by the king had been excited, 
before Milton published his Iconoclastes, by the 
author of a work, entitled " ' Icon Alethine, &c. 
published to undeceive the world? early, I believe, 
in 1649. The object of this writer is to impeach 
the title of the king to the Icon Basil ike, and to 
assign it to a nameless divine. Thus Mr. Hayley 
says of Milton, that " the sagacity of the poet ena- 
bled him to discover that the pious work, imputed 
to the deceased king, was a political artifice to serve 
the cause of the royalists ; but as it was impossible 
for him to obtain such evidence to detect the impo- 
sition, as time has since produced, he executed a re- 
gular reply to the book, as a real production of the 
king, intimating at the same time his suspicion of 
the fraud." His suspicion Milton has expressed in 

1 The full title is, " Ekbv 'AXrjdivrj, The Portraiture of Truth's 
most sacred Majesty truly suffering, though not solely ; wherein 
the false colours are washed off, wherewith the painter-stainer had 
bedaubed Truth, the late King, and the Parliament, in his coun- 
terfeit piece entitled Ekiou BaaiXiKr). Published to undeceive 
the world. Lond. 1649." 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 1 15 

more instances, than those which have been cited by- 
writers who treat his suspicion as of no account. 
Yet Clarendon, who doubtless had read the offensive 
Iconoclastes with attention, apparently regarded 
these instances ; and therefore when he wrote to bishop 
Gauden, who seems to have been the k author of the 
Icon, he could not but acknowledge, that the poet 
would be pleased by the discovery which would con- 
firm his suspicion. But a heavy charge has been 
brought against Milton of having, in conjunction 
with Bradshawe, prevailed upon the printer of the 
Icon to interpolate a prayer, taken from the Arca- 
dia of Sidney ; with the view, it has been pretended, 
of bringing discredit upon the book. Yet, however 
severely and sarcastically Milton has reflected upon 
the memory of the king, he certainly added not this 
alleged insult. Justly has Dr. Newton observed, 
" I cannot but hope and believe that Milton had a 
soul above being guilty of so mean an action to 
serve so mean a purpose ; and there is as little rea- 
son for fixing it on him, as he had to traduce the 
king c for profaning the duty of prayer with the pol- 
luted trash of romances.' For there are not many 
finer prayers in the best books of devotion ; and the 
king might as lawfully borrow and apply it to his 
own occasions, as the ' Apostle might make quota- 



k As I have endeavoured to shew in a Letter to his Grace, the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, 1 825. 

1 The same application to the case of St. Paul is made, though 
it probably was not known to Dr. Newton, in the Ehojy 
'Ak-XaoToc, The Image Unbroken, an answer to Milton's Icono- 

i 2 



116 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

tions from heathen poems and plays. And it became 
Milton the least of all men to bring such an accusa- 
tion against the king, as he was himself particularly 
fond of reading romances, and has made use of them 
in some of the best and latest of his writings.'* The 
king too, Dr. Newton might have added, is said 
to have been particularly fond of reading the m ro- 
mance from which the prayer is taken ; so that 
Lauder, in his miserable endeavour to convict Milton 
of the interpolation in question, is himself convicted, 
among other contradictions, of inaccuracy in stating 
with Mr. WagstafYe, " n that it does not any where 
appear, that Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia was a 
booh which the king used to read, or delight in :" 
for, in 1693, Mr. Long of Exeter, a zealous royalist, 
expressly asserted, "°I have heard that the king 
for his recreation did divert himself by reading 
that booh, (Sir P. Sidney's,) the best of its kind 
then extant ; and he did it with great observa- 
tion and improvement" But Milton is at once 
exonerated from the supposed imposture, which Dr. 
Birch also discredited, by the connection of Arch- 
bishop Juxon with the prayer which has been no- 



clastes, in 1651. *' By borrowing to a Christian use the words 
of a heathen philosopher and poet, did Saint Paul thereby un- 
hallow and unchristian Scripture ?" p. 82. 

m His Majesty, in the time of his restraint, had also Ariosto, 
and Tasso, and Spenser, and the romance of Cassandra, among 
his books ; as Sir Thomas Herbert, in his Memoirs, informs us. 

n King Charles I. vindicated, &c. 1754, p. 32. 

° Dr. Walker's Account of the Icon Bas. examined, p. 59. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



117 



ticed. For the complete editions of the Icon pre- 
sent, in the title-page, " The Ponrtraicture of his 
Sacred Majestie, &c. Together with Ms Private 
Prayers used in the time of Ms restraint, and 
delivered to Dr. Juxon, Bishop of London, imme- 
diately before Ms death" The favourable recep- 
tion of the first copies of the Icon, without the 
prayers, occasioned in the impressions of the book, 
which were p daily passing through the press, imme- 
diately after the martyrdom, the introduction of 
whatever could be collected, and might be judged 
proper, as illustrating the pious character of the 
king. And these prayers, which with other papers 
had been delivered by his Majesty to Juxon, had 
been q taken from the prelate at the time of the 
murder of the king. The name of Juxon, we may 
be sure, would not have been united with them, if it 
had not been true that the royal martyr gave them 
to him. Nor would Juxon for ever have been silent, 
if the prayer from the Arcadia had not been one of 
them. The answer to the Icon, which leisurely, 
and amidst other avocations, Milton had thus pro- 
duced, became an object of consideration to the 
Council, in March 1650-1, as to reprinting it ; and 

p With the prayers, the Icon was published certainly not very 
many days after the fatal 30th of January. Of twenty-nine im- 
pressions without the prayers, seventeen are said to have been 
printed in 1648-9. With the prayers, twenty-seven editions have 
been enumerated. 

q As related by Perrinchief in his Life of K. Ch. I. 3d ed. p. 
225. " They forced from my lord of London all those papers 
his Majesty had delivered to him? 1 



118 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

accordingly a second edition by authority appeared. 
Yet still no direction for remuneration is found; 
while the order for a translation of it into French, 
soon afterwards, repeatedly couples with it the ex- 
pression of reward. 

" 1651. May 20. Ordered, that Mr. Durie r doe 
proceed in the translating of Mr. Milton's booke, 
written in answer to the late king's booke, and that 
it be left to Mr. Frost to give him such reward for 
his paines as hee shall thinke fitt. 

" 1652. Nov. 15. Ordered, that it be referred 
to Mr. Thurloe to consider of a fitt reward to 
be given to Mr. Durie for his paines, in translating 
into French the book written by Mr. Milton, in 
answer to that of the late king's, entitled His Me- 
ditations. 



r John Durie, a Scotchman ; by profession a divine, in orders, 
and a preacher ; but whether he took them according to the way 
of the Church of England, which he always scrupled, A. Wood 
says, it appears not. He was a great pretender towards recon- 
ciling the Calvinists and Lutherans abroad, and is said to have 
been encouraged in his labour by Archbishop Laud. Wood 
refers to a letter of Durie to Hartlib, who was his friend, in which 
some of his history is to be found. In 1641 he sided with the 
Presbyterians, was a preacher before the Long Parliament, and 
one of the Assembly of Divines. Afterwards he joined himself 
to the Independents. He survived the restoration. See Wood's 
Ath. Ox. Fast. vol. i. col. 849. ed. 1691. He is the author of 
many publications. In his letters to Tho. Goodwin and Philip 
Nye, published in 1644, he relates " the true state of his nego- 
tiation with the Lutherans," &c. p. 1, et seq. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 119 

" 1653. April 1. Ordered, that the Commis- 
sioners of the Customs doe permitt certain bookes 
written by Mr. Milton, in answer to the booke 
called the late king's, being translated into French 
to bee transported into France custom-free." 

The considerations arising from the production of 
Milton's Iconoclastes, have led us to overpass the 
regular chronology of the Orders of Council. We 
now return to the period, immediately subsequent to 
the publication of that book. 

* 1649-50. Feb. 2. Ordered, that orders s be 
sent to Mr. Baker, Mr. Challenor, Mr. Weckherlyn, 
Mr. Willingham, or any others who have in their 
hands any Publique Papers belonging to the Com- 
monwealth, to deliver them to Mr. Milton, to be 
layd up in the Paper Office for Publique Service ; 
and that Mr. Baker be appoynted to order those 
Papers, that they may be ready for use. 

9 The following letter was accordingly sent : " Sir, Wee are 
informed that there are several Letters and other Papers of Pub- 
lique Concernement, that are in your hands, which wee have 
thought fitt should be brought into the Paper Office at White- 
hall, both for the safe keeping of them, and that they might 
be ready for publique use upon all occasions. Wee therefore 
desire you to deliver all the said Papers to Mr. Milton, whom wee 
have appointed to receive the same and see them safely and 
orderly disposed in the said Office. Signed in the name and 
by order of the Councell of State, &c. Jo : Bradshawe, Pre- 
sident, Whitehall, 4 Feb. 1649-50." This is a copy, among 
the above-written orders, of that which was directed to Mr. 
Willingham. 



120 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



" 1649-50. * Feb. 18. Ordered, that Mr. Milton, 
Secretary for Foreign Languages ; Serjeant Dendy, 
Serjeant at Armes ; Mr. Frost the younger, Assistant 
to Mr. Frost the Secretary ; and all the Clerks for- 
merly employed under Mr. Frost, as also the mes- 
sengers, and all other officers employed by the 
Councell last yeare, and not dismissed; shall be 
againe entertained into the same employments, and 
shall receive the same salary which was appointed 
them the yeare past. 

« 1649-50. Feb. 23. Memorandum, that Mr. 
John Milton, Secretaire for the Forreigne Lan- 
guages ; Mr. Edward Dendie, Serjeant at Armes ; 
and Mr. Gwalter Frost the younger, Assistant to the 
Secretary ; did this day take the engagement folio w- 
lowing : I, being nominated by this Councell to bee 

for the year to come, doe promise in the 

sight of God, that through his grace I will bee 
faithfull in the performance of the trust committed 
unto mee, and not reveale or disclose any thing, in 
whole or in part, directly or indirectly, that shall be 
debated or resolved upon in the Councell, without 
the command, direction, or allowance of the Parlia- 
ment or Councell. 

*, Bradshawe, in a letter to Cromwell, dated as above, says, 
" We are now beginning with a new councell another yeare. I 
might have hoped, either for love or something els, to have been 
spared from the chayre ; but I could not obtaine that favour ; 
and I dare not but submyt, where it is cleere to me God gives 
the call," &c. Original Letters, found among the Political Col- 
lections of Milton, published by J. Nickolls, 1743, p. 65. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 121 



(C 



1650. March 30. Ordered, that it be recom- 
mended to the Lords Commissioners of the Great 
Seale to give order for the prepareing of a commis- 
sion to Mr. Richard Bradshaw, who is to be em- 
ployed Resident from this Commonwealth to the 
Senate of Hamburgh according to the Order of 

Parliament. 

*♦ 

" That a credential Letter be likewise u prepared 
for him by Mr. Milton. 

" 1650. May 6. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doe 
attend the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seale 
with the Papers given in by Dr. Walsall concerning 
the goods of Felo's cle se ; to whom it is referred to 
take such course therein, for the advantage of the 
Commonwealth, as they shall tliinke fltt. 

" 1650. June 14. Ordered, that Mr. Milton 
shall have a x warrant to the Trustees and Con- 
tractors for the sale of the king's goods for the fur- 
nishing of his lodgeing at Whitehall with some 
hangings. 

u This letter, it appears, was " read and approved, April 1, 
1650." . It is among the printed Literce Senatus, &c. of Milton, 
and there dated April 2. 

x The copy of the warrant is inserted, after this order, bearing 
date, June 18, 1650. " These are to will and require you forth- 
with, upon sight hereof, to deliver unto Mr. John Milton, or to 
whom hee shall appoint, such hangings as shall be sufficient for 
the, furnishing of his lodgings at Whitehall. To the Trustees 
and Contractors for the sale of the late King's goods" . 



122 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

* 1650. June 22. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doe 
goe to the Committee of the Armie, and desire them 
to send to this Councell the hooke of Examinations 
taken about the riseings in Kent and Essex. 

" 1650. June 25. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doe 
peruse the Examinations taken by the Army con- 
cerning the insurrections in Essex ; and that he doe 
take heads of the same, to the end the Councell may 
judge what is to be taken into consideration. 

" 1650. June 26. Ordered, that the Declaration 
of the Parliament against the Dutch be translated 
into Latine by Mr. Milton, into Dutch by Mr. y Haak, 
and into French by Monsieur Augier. 

. " 1650. Aug. 14. Ordered, that Mr. Thomas 
Goodwyn, Mr. Bifield, Mr. Bond, Mr. Nye, Mr. 
Durye, Mr. Frost, and Mr. Milton, or any three of 
them, of which Mr. Frost or Mr. Milton to bee one> 
bee appointed to view and to inventorie all the re- 



y Mr. Theodore Haak translated the first six books of the 
Paradise Lost into High Dutch ; which, Aubrey says, Fabricius 
had seen, and highly approved. The translation is in blank 
verse; and is believed to have been published in 1728. Haak 
was a man of great learning, acquainted with Usher, Selden, 
Walton, and all the admirable scholars of Milton's time. He 
was a Fellow of the Royal Society. Wood also mentions the 
translation of Par. Lost, which this distinguished foreigner had 
made. " This virtuous and learned person," Wood tells us, died 
in London in 1690 at the advanced age of 85. Ath. Ox. vol. ii. 
col. 643. ed. 1692. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 123 

cords, writings, and papers whatsoever, belonging to 
the Assembly of the Synod, to the end they may not 
be embezzelled, and maybe forth coming for the use 
of the Commonwealth. 

" 1650. Dec. 23. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doe 
print the treatise which he hath written, in answer 
to a late booke written by Salmasius against the 
proceedings of this Commonwealth." 

Then here is the point, to which whatever relates 
to the memorable controversy between Milton and 
Salmasius should be drawn ; and therefore, leaving 
awhile (as before in the detail of the Icon history) 
the chronological order of entries in the Council- 
Book, I will deliver an uninterrupted narrative of 
this literary combat, and of circumstances connected 
with it. 

King Charles the second, being now protected in 
Holland, had employed this learned Frenchman, Sal- 
masius, who was professor of Polite Learning at 
Leyden, to write a defence of his late father, and of 
monarchy. " Salmasius," Dr. Johnson observes, 
" was a man of skill in languages, knowledge of 
antiquity, and sagacity of emendatory criticism, 
almost exceeding all hope of human attainment ; 
and having, by excessive praises, been confirmed in 
great confidence of himself, though he probably had 
not much considered the principles of society, or the 
rights of government, undertook the employment 



124 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

without distrust of his own qualifications ; and, as 
his expedition in writing was wonderful, in 1649 
published the Defensio Regia." It is certainly re- 
markable that Salmasius, the pensioner to a repub- 
lick, should write a vindication of monarchy. The 
States indeed ordered it to be suppressed. Before 
he had proceeded in his work, he was thus cautioned 
by his friend Sarravius : z " Periculosse plenum opus 
aleae aggrederis, Defensionem dico nuper occisi Bri- 
tanniarum Regis ; maxime cum vestri Ordines me- 
diant viam secent. Laudo tamen animi tui gene- 
rosum propositum, quo nefandum scelus aperte 
damnare sustines. Hac tamen te cautione uti opus 
est, ne it a Majestatem Regiam extollas, ut erga sub- 
ditos amorem videatur illis gratis largiri." From 
the correspondence of this learned Frenchman with 
Salmasius we learn some curious particulars respect- 
ing the work, which occasioned Milton's elaborate 
answer. Sarravius advised him to read the Icon 
Basilike, as subservient to his purpose ; a book, he 
says, which he had read with the highest admiration ; 
a " adeo in ea [Icone^ plena omnia bonitatis erga 
subditos eximise, et in Deum pietatis. Ex eo libro 
potueris non pauca depromere Apologetico tuo fir.. 
mando." After the Defensio Regia had been pub- 
lished, he informs him of the blame attached to him 
for not having sent a copy to the widowed queen of 



z M. Gudii et C. Sarravii, Epistolse. Ultrajecti, 1697. Sarrav. 
Ep. cxcviii. p. 203. 
a Ibid. Ep. ccv. p. 210. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 125 

Charles ; b toko, though poor, would yet have paid 
the hearer. Sarravius informs him also of c reported 
antagonists, long before Milton appeared against 
him. Milton indeed commenced his hostile opera- 
tion immediately on the publication of Salmasius's 
defence, as he had been directed by an order of 
council, already cited, Jan. 8, 1649-50. But the 
various interruptions, which he mentions in the elo- 
quent Preface to his Defensio Populi, prevented 
the publication of his opposition till the beginning 
of the year 1651. 

Hobbes is said to have declared himself unable 
to d decide whose language was best, or whose argu- 

b Ibid. Ep. ccxxiii. p. 223. " Vicli nobilem Anglum expos- 
tulantem, quod omiseris unum exemplum mittere ad defuncti 
Caroli viduam, quas hie [Paris.] degit ; Quamvis enim, inquiebat, 
sit in re minime lautd, tamen potuisse solvere pretium tabellarii, 
qui Mud attulisset." 

c Ibid. Ep. cexxxvii. p. 235. 

d " Uterque, si Hobbio fides, Latino insignis, at rationibus 
vacuus." Comm. de Rebell. Angl. ab an. 1640, &c. a R. Manlio, 
Eq. Aur. 8vo. 1686. lib. ii. p. 226. It seems that they accused 
each other of grammatical blunders. I have heard of a copy of 
Salmasius's book, the margins of which are said to be decorated 
with barbarisms and solecisms detected by Milton. Without 
weighing the demerits of this kind, I will only observe, that Mil- 
ton's criticisms appear to have occasioned the following sarcasm 
of the witty Butler. See Butler's Remains, edit. Thyer, vol. i. 
p. 220. 

" Some polemicks use to draw their swords 

" Against the language only and the words ; 
" As he who fought at barriers with Salmasius, 
" Engagd with nothing but his style and phrases, 



126 SQME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

ments were worst. In Dr. Johnson's opinion, Mil- 
ton's periods were smoother, neater, and more pointed ; 
but he delights himself with teazing his adversary, 
as much as with confuting him. Milton's book was 
burnt at Paris, and at Toulouse. But this procured 
it more readers. From a letter of Nicholas Heinsius 
to Isaac Vossius it appears to have been translated 
into Dutch, and to have been expected also in a 
French dress. Into our own language it was trans- 
lated, at the close of the seventeenth century, by Mr. 
Washington of the Temple. Salmasius's book at- 
tracted much less notice. It has appeared indeed in 
different forms, both Latin and French ; and, as it 
should seem from the correspondence of Sarravius, 
e in some editions with slight variations. Salmasius 
afterwards endeavoured to defend his cause, accord- 
ing to the testimony of Isaac Vossius, by a most un- 
justifiable attack upon the moral character of Milton 
while he resided in Italy : Both combatants indeed 
had betrayed too much personal malevolence : But 
it is to the disgrace of Salmasius that he should so 
far have forgotten himself as to confound the cham- 



" Wavd to assert the murder of a prince, 

" The author of false Latin to convince ; 

" But laid the merits of the cause aside, 

" By those that understood them to be try'd ; 

" And counted breaking Priscian's head a thing 

" More capital than to behead a king ; 

" For which he has been admir'd by all the learn 'd 

" Of knaves concern'd, and pedants unconcern'd !" 

e Ep. ut supr. ccxxxvi. p. 234. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



127 



pion with the assassin. Milton, for his performance, 
was complimented f at home by the visits or invita- 
tions of all the foreign ministers at London, and by 
encomiastick letters from the most celebrated scho- 
lars abroad. It has been said also, first by Toland 
I believe, and subsequently by other biographers, 
that he received from the Council the present of a 
thousand pounds ; a circumstance which I had cre- 
dited. But Dr. Symmons acutely suspected the 
accuracy of this statement, by referring to Milton's 
own words in his Defensio Secunda : " Tuque scito 
illas opimitates atque opes, quas mihi exprobras, 
non attigisse, neque eo nomine, quo maxime ac- 
cusas, obolo factum ditiorem" The Council-Book 
confirms this assertion. " 1651. June 18. Ordered, 
that thanks be given to Mr. Milton on the behalfe 
of the Commonwealth for his good services done in 
writing an answer to the booke of Salmasius, written 
against the proceedings of the Commonwealth of 
England." But all this is crossed over, and nearly 
three lines following are obliterated, in which, the 
accurate Mr. Lemon says, a grant of money was 
made to Milton. But after the cancelled passage, 
the regular entry thus follows : " The Councell 
takeing notice of the manie good services performed 



f He perhaps lost the friendship of others on this occasion. 
Certain it seems that the amiable and learned Earl of Bridge- 
water, who had performed the part of the First Brother in his 
Comus, then disdained his acquaintance. On the title-page of 
the Defensio, now in the Marquis of Stafford's possession, that 
Nobleman has written, " Liber igne, Author fired, dignissimi. ,i 



128 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

by Mr. John Milton, their Secretarie for Forreigne 
Languages, to this State and Commonwealth, par- 
ticularliefor his booke in vindication of the Par- 
liament, and people of England, against the ca- 
lumnies and invectives of Salmasius, have thought 
fltt to declare their resentment and good acceptance 
of the same ; and that the thanks of the Councell 
bee returned to Mr. Mylton, and their sense re- 
presented in that behalf e? Christina, queen of 
Sweden, is said to have treated the defender of 
monarchy with coldness, after having read the De- 
fence of the People : And Dr. Newton adds that 
Salmasius was dismissed from her Court with con- 
tempt. He was dismissed, or rather retired, not 
with degradation, but, as Dr. Johnson observes, with 
a train of attendance scarcely less than regal. Pro- 
bably for the mean pleasure of tormenting Salma- 
sius, this capricious monarch had commended Mil- 
ton. After Salmasius's death, she assured his widow, 
by letter, that she had esteemed him as a father, and 
would never cease to honour his memory. Salma- 
sius died in 1653 at Spa ; having prepared a reply 
to Milton, without books, and by the sole help of 
memory g ; which, left as it was unfinished, was h pub- 
lished by his son, with a dedication to the King, at 



5 Vita et Epist. CI. Salmasii, ab. Ant. Clementio, 1656. Vit. 
p. liii, 

h It appears to have been translated into English, and pub- 
lished at London in 1660. See bishop Kennet's Register, p. 270. 
" Salmasius's Dissection and Confutation of Milton." 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 129 

the Uestoration : It is more distinguished for abuse 
than argument. 

It must not be omitted that Salmasius, in his De- 
fensio Regia, had pressed hard upon his adversary 
in a particular point ; and that Milton, to maintain 
the point, was tempted to put on the fragile armour 
of untruth. A learned prelate, in modern times, 
has detected this diminished brightness of Milton. 
" T When Salmasius upbraided Cromwell's faction 
with the tenets of the Brownists, the chosen advo- 
cate of that execrable faction £Milton] replied, that, 
if they were Brownists, Luther, Calvin, Bucer, Zu- 
inglius, and all the most celebrated theologians of 
the Orthodox, must be included in the same re- 
proach. A grosser falsehood, as far as Luther, 
Calvin, and many others are concerned, never fell 
from the unprincipled pen of a party-writer. How- 
ever sedition might be a part of the puritanick 
creed, the general faith of the Reformers rejects 
the infamous alliance." Dr. Symmons, who to an 
edition of k Milton's Prose Works prefixed a life of 
the author, is indignant at this accusation ; and pro- 
tests against the rashness which incited the prelate 
to this violent paragraph; with singular humanity 
also deploring the " l unhappy insertion" of it, pre- 

1 Appendix to Bishop Horsley's Sermon before the House of 
Lords, Jan. 30, 1 793, p. 38. I had inadvertently named bishop 
Watson, as the author of the passage in question ; a mistake, 
which others have followed. 

k Published in 1806. l Life, p. 320. 

K 



130 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

ceded by my " harsh imputation," into my account 
of the great poet. No less desirous than Dr. Sym- 
mons to avoid misrepresentation in speaking of 
Milton, I copied what he advanced in maintenance 
of his pity and indignation, and left the charge of 
rashness to be appropriated as impartiality may 
direct. 

" m To refute this incautious charge," says Dr. 
Symmons, " nothing more can be necessary than the 
production of the passage in Milton's work, to which 
the reference is made. It concludes the fifth chap- 
ter of the Defensio pro Populo Anglicano, and it 
stands independently of any thing which precedes it. 
' Quereris enim postremis hisce seculis discipline 
vigorem laxatum, regulam corruptam,' quod uni 
scilicet tyranno, cunctis legibus soluto, disci- 
plinam omnem laxare, mores omnium corrumpere, 
impune non UceaL Hanc doctrinam ' Brunistas 
inter reformatos' introduxisse ais : Ita Lutherus, 
Calvinus, Zuinglius, Bucerus, et Orthodoxorum 
quotquot celeberrimi theologi fuere, tuo judicio 
Brunistce sunt. Quo cequiore animo tua male- 
dicta perferunt Angli, cum in ecclesice doctores 
prcestantissimos, totamque adeb ecclesiam refor- 
matam, iisdem prope contumeliis dehacchari te 
audiant' ' You complain/ addressing himself to 
Salmasius, says Milton, ' that in this last age the 
Vigour of discipline is impaired and its right rule 

M Life, p. 321. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 131 

corrupted, because truly it is not in the power of 
one despot, released himself from the controul of all 
law, to relax with impunity the general discipline 
and to corrupt the morals of all. This doctrine, as 
you say, was first introduced among the reformed 
by the Brownists ; so that, by your decision, Luther, 
Calvin, Zuinglius, Bucer, and all the most celebrated 
of the orthodox divines are included among the 
Brownists. The English, therefore, support your 
calumnies with the greater equanimity, when they 
hear you thus furious in your invectives against the 
most admirable doctors, and consequently against 
the body itself of the reformed church.' — If we ad- 
mit the premises of Milton, can we refuse our assent 
to his conclusion ? If to contend for liberty against 
the tyranny of a single person be the distinction of 
a Brownist, the first reformers were, beyond all 
question, Brownists ; for one of the principal objects 
of their liberal and enlightened contention was to 
break the despotism of the Court of Rome. Milton 
asserts nothing but the truth ; and he is justified in 
bringing it forward by that part of his adversary's 
work to which he replies. The first reformers were 
not only strenuous in their opposition to the papal 
despotism, but were on all occasions warm advocates 
and supporters of the civil liberties of man." — I sub- 
join Salmasius's own words. " n Postremis vero sae- 
culis ut in aliis rebus ita et in hac mores, ut jam 
dictum, cum temporibus mutati sunt, discipline vigor 

B Defensio Regia, edit. 12 mo . 1650, p. 166. 



132 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



laxatus est, et regula corrupta. Quinimo extitere 
tandem pestes Rerum publicarum, regumque /ua<7ny£c> 
et omnis a Deo ordinatae potestatis hostes, sophistse 
quidam qui contrariam illi, quae a Christo tradita 
est, doctrinam introduxerunt de oceidendis quasi 
jure regihus si displicerent subjectis. Tales in 
Pontificiis Jesuits, inter Reformatos qui vocantur 
Independentes et Brunistce." Milton's reply then 
is unquestionably evasive. And it has been thought 
an effort to vindicate his own party " p upon the 
same principles/' as Dr. Watkins has well observed, 
" which induced the reformers to separate from the 
Church of Rome ; an artful manoeuvre to put rebel- 
lion against the king, and the reformation from 
popery, upon the same footing.". But I will not 
overpass the acute observation also of a recent q an- 
no tator on Dr. Newton's Life of the poet, that per- 
haps " the real offence of Milton consists in the usual 
sophistry of controversialists. His adversary having 
spoken of sedition, he speaks of liberty, and con- 
tends, that in advocating the principles of civil li- 
berty, the Brownists agreed with the most orthodox 
of the first reformers." 

That the death of Salmasius was hastened by the 

See this point before illustrated, in the present account. 
Salmasius speaks correctly. 

p Characteristick Anecdotes of men of learning and genius, &c. 
8vo. 1808, p. 214. 

« Mr. Edward Hawkins, Milton's Poet. Works, &c. 1824, 
vol. i. p. xlii. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON, 



133 



neglect which he is said to have experienced, on the 
appearance of Milton's book, is by no means, clear. 
His biographer, Clementius, gives a distinct account 
of the disorder which terminated his days, and to 
which he had long been subject, the gout. The 
supposed credit of destroying a r literary antagonist 
may indeed be deducted, without injury, from the 
achievements of Milton. . , ., 

The first reply to Milton's Defensio Populi was 
published in the same year, and was entitled, " Apo- 
logia pro Rege et Populo Anglicano, contra Johannis 
Polypragmatici (alias Miltoni Angli) Defensionem 
destructivam Regis et Populi." The author was un- 
known. Milton directed his younger nephew to 
answer it, who possibly prepared the first draught of 
a reply ; which, before it went to press, was so care- 
fully examined and corrected by Milton, that it may 
be considered almost as his own performance, al- 
though denominated " Johannis Philippi Angli Re- 
sponsio ad Apologiam anonymi cujusdam tenebrionis 
pro Rege et Populo Anglicano infantissimam." This 
piece appeared in 1652. Bishop Bramhall is the 
ideal enemy with whom Phillips here encounters. 
Of so contemptible and barbarous a composition as 

r Bentley justly observes, in the Preface to his Dissertation 
on Phalaris, that " he must be a young writer, and a young 
reader too, that believes Milton and Petavius had themselves as 
mean thoughts of Salmasius, as they endeavour to make others 
have." Milton could once avow his respectful opinion of the 
" industry of the learned Salmasius." Reason of Ch. Gov. B. 
i. Ch. vi. 



134 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the Apologia that learned prelate could not be the 
writer. I have indeed discovered the real author ; 
and the imputation whether of Milton, or his ne- 
phew, applied to this excellent bishop, must never 
more be named. Dr. Symmons is wholly mistaken 
in his supposed discovery of the author. I have the 
authority also of bishop Bramhall himself on my 
side s . But it was thought subservient perhaps to 

9 From the following work we learn the name of the author of 
the Apologia: " Polemica sive Supplementum ad Apologiam 
anonymam pro Rege et Populo Anglicano, adversus Jo : Miltoni 
Defensionem Populi Anglicani, &c. Per Io : Rowlandum, Pasto- 
rem Anglicum. 1653." 12mo. In p. 47, the author begins to 
speak of his former book, and of himself: " iEstimantur tamen 
plerumque libri authorum vel patronorum titulis, ut divites 
gemmis, 

' cui annulus ingens, 

* atque ideo plurisquam Cottus agebat/ 

Et nisi typographis hoc supplementum vili venisset, qui egenti 
et nudo nullam laboris mei mercedem porrigere ausi sunt, vel 
praeli impensas facere, suo lucro metuentes, diu antehac hanc 
secundam Apologiam publici juris fecissem. Sed si Salmasius, vel 
Heinsius, vel quis magni nominis mece preefigeretur, sperno 
spretus, cum Heinsii Socratis pulchro fortasse pulchritudine 
certaret. Sed meam intra anni spatium decorticare periculum 
fecit quidam Johannes, an alter et idem Miltonus ? Philippus, 
vel Pseudo Philippus ? cui ratio non est quod ipse succenserem, 
qui, errando circa authorem Apologies, me dignitate episcopali 
honoravit, et Episcopum Dirreeum, aulicorum sacerdotum primi- 
pilum, omn vitiorum labe maculavit. — Quoad caetera, Philippus, 
levis veles, in tricis et quisquiliis fere totum se exercet circa linguae 
Latinae puritatem, cum mihi a 14 annis nee grammatica nee dic- 
tionarium fuerit, quam quae cerebro meo mecum circumferre 
possim ; et tamen hisce phantasmatibus, verbis, et tropis incauti 
lectores capiuntur, tanquam Prisciani vel Despauterij causa age- 
retur, qui, quoniam in re tarn seria tarn pueriliter ineptit, non 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



135 



the consequence of the cause, to exhibit its nameless 
opponent as a man of the most distinguished talents. 
In this year Sir Robert Filmer's Animadversions on 
Milton's Defensio, Hobbes's Leviathan, and Gro- 
tius's De Jure Belli, were likewise published. 
They were unnoticed by Milton. In 1652 also, the 
following publication appeared in * Dublin against 

aliud a me responsum expectabit quam quod hoc disticho compre- 
hendam : 

Phy nota f ceteris Lippus malus omnibus horis, 
Et malus et Lippus, totus malus ergo Philippus. 

Non sum enim Johannes Bramalius Episcopus Dirrseus aulicus, 
sed Johannes Rowlandus Anglicus, Pastor Ecclesise particularis, 
et tamen nominis mei me non pudet, quod in Ecclesise ortho- 
doxum, olim in proverbium cessit, Rowlandus pro Olivero," &c. 
Cap. 5. Ad fin. — I have now to communicate bishop Bramhall's 
own remark, obligingly transmitted to me from Ireland, before the 
second edition of this account was published, by the Rev. Edward 
Berwick, (of Esker near Leixlip,) who, in looking over some ori- 
ginal letters of the bishop, discovered the information in one of 
them addressed to his son under an assumed name, and dated at 
Antwerpe in May 1654. " That silly book which he [Milton] 
ascribes to me, was written by one John Rowland, who since hath 
replied upon him. I never read a word either of the first book or 
of the replie in my life." 

* This is an extremely rare book, though of no great import- 
ance as to the discussion of the controversy. I had long sought 
for it in vain. The kindness of B. H. Bright, Esq. of Cadogan 
Place, has lately supplied me with it. It is dedicated to King 
Charles II., and the author tells his majesty, " Obmutuisse mihi 
nimium Salmasius videtur, a, Miltonio petitus, quamvis acer sit, 
et sedulus calumniarum vindex. Ejus partes, impar licet, sus- 
cepi tamen," &c. For himself and both the combatants he says, 
" Non ego in injurias et maledicta descendam, Miltoni sequutus 
exemplum : ludimagistrorum, et mulierum inter se altercantium, 
consuetudo est ; non eruditorum, quales Salmasius et Miltonius 3 " 



136 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



him: " Carolus I. a securi et calamo Miltonii viri- 
dicatus." And in 1653, at Leyden.. " Caspari 
Ziegleri Lipsiensis circa Regicidium Anglorum exer- 
citationes. Accedit Jacobi Schalleri Dissertatio ad 
loca queedam Milioni? Ziegler has thought pro- 
per thus to insult the great poet : " Jam verd, in 
dictis S. Scripturae interpolandis et enervandis, quan- 
tus artifex est Miltonus ! Jesuitis felicior, ipso 
Diabolo audacior /" And addresses this A d Lecto- 
rem Benevolum ! Schaller is not disposed to abuse. 

From the Salmasian controversy we now return 
to Milton in the exercise of other official employ- 
ment. 

" 1650-1. Feb. 10. Ordered, that the u way of 

p. 2. He distributes the contents of his little book into seven 
answers to as many charges brought against King Charles I. by 
Milton. Among other hasty assertions, he describes the poet as 
having dismissed his wife through jealousy. The title describes 
the book as printed " Dublini, apud Liberum Correctorem, Via 
Regia, sub signo Solutae Fascis." small 12mo. 118 pages. 

11 See the published Literce Senatus &c. of Milton, making 
inquiries of this person as to the object of his mission ; his powers 
or character, whether of ambassador, or agent, or envoy, &c. 
" Internuntio Portugallio" the letter not dated ; but it must have 
been after Dec. 24, 1650, because Bradshawe, in a letter of that 
date says> " we are busied with preparing reception for embassa- 
dors ; one from Portugall being upon his way from Southampton 
hither, the Parliament according to his desyre having sent him 
their safe-conduct, &c. Some thought, it would have been fitt 
to have knowne of the Portugall Minister, whether he had been 
furnished with power to have treated touching satisfaction for 
damages &c. done to this nation, and to have seen a copy of his 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



137 



treating with the Publique Minister of Portugall be 
by a Committee of the Councell, consisting of such 
a number as the Councell shall thinke fitt, in refer- 
ence to the quality of the said Minister. 

" That Mr. Milton, the Secretarye for Forreigne 
Languages bee appointed to attend the Committee 
at their meetings, and that Joseph Frost be employed 
for such writing as the Committee shall have occa- 
sion for in this business. 

"- 1650-1. Feb. 18. Ordered, that Mr. John Mil- 
ton be Secretary for the Forreigne Languages for 
the time of the Councell. 

" 1650-1. March 5. Ordered, that it be referred 
to the Committee of Examinations to viewe over 
Mr. Milton's x booke, and give order for reprinting 
of it, if they thinke fitt. 

credentials, before a safe-conduct granted," &c. Letters of 
State, ut supr. among Milton's Papers, 1743, p. 39. Sir 
Henry Vane too, in a letter dated Dec. 28, 1650, observes 
that '■"■ the Parliament had appointed a Committee to con- 
sider whether . the Portugall envoye shall be heard in the 
House, or at a Committee, enclining rather unto the latter." 
Ibid. p. 41. 

x The Iconoclastes : the second edition of which with addi- 
tions is said to bear the date of 1650. See Baron's edition of it, 
.1770. Pref. p. 1. But 1650-1 is the true date, though 1650 be 
alleged, in the title-page ; and then in 1651 came out the answer 
to it, entitled Ekw»> 'A/cXatrroe ; as upon another reprint of it in 
his Prose-Works, in 1692, an answer called Vindicice Carolines 
appeared. 



138 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



" 1651. March 27. Ordered, that the letters that 
are to be sent to the Ambassadour of Spain shall be 
sent unto him by Mr. Milton. 

" 1651. March 28. Ordered, that Mr. Milton 
doe translate the Intercursus Magnus, which he is 
to have from Sir Henry Vane. 

" 1651. April 4. Ordered, that such dispatches 
as come to this Councell from forreigne parts, in any 
forreigne tongue, are to bee translated for the use of 
the Councell. 

" 1651. April 10. Ordered, that Mr. Vaux bee 
sent unto, to lett him know that hee is to forbeare 
the removeing of Mr. Milton out of his lodgings in 
Whitehall, untill Sir Henry Mildmay and Sir Gilbert 
Pickering shall have spoken with the Committee 
concerning that businesse. 

" 1651. April 23. Ordered, that the paper, now 
read, to be sent to the Minister of Portugall, bee 
translated into Latin ; and the English copie to bee 
signed by Mr. Frost, and sent unto him. 

" 1651. May 16. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doe 
repaire to the Publique Minister of Portugall, and 
desire of him, from the Councell, a lyst of the names 
of such persons as hee desires to carrie with him as 
his retinue, that the same may bee affixed to his 
passe. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 139 

" 1651. May 30. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doe 
translate the Petition of Alderman y Dethick, and 
the Letter of the Councell to the Spanish Ambas- 
sador, into Latin, that the same may be sent to the 
sayd Ambassador, according to former order. 

" 1651. June 11* Ordered, that Lieutenant Gen. 
Fleetwood, Sir John Trevor, Mr. Alderman Allen, 
and Mr. Chaloner, or anie two of them, bee ap- 
pointed a Committee to goe from this Councell to 
the Committee of Parliament for Whitehall, to ac- 
quaint them with the case of Mr. Milton, in regard 
of their positive order for his speedie remove out of 
his lodgings in Whitehall ; and to endeavour with 
them, that the said Mr. Milton may bee continued 
where hee is, in regard of the employment which hee 
is in to the Councell, which necessitates him to re- 
side neere the Councell." 

By his biographers Milton has been usually repre- 
sented, as removing from his apartments in Scotland- 
yard, (called in the preceding orders, his lodgings in 
Whitehall,) on account of his health being impaired. 
Phillips, his nephew, here hesitates, however, in his 
narrative. " From his apartment in Scotland-yard," 
he says, " whether Milton thought it not healthy, or 
otherwise convenient for his use, or whatever else 
was the reason, he soon after took a pretty garden- 

y See the Literce Oliverii Prot. dated May 1656, where ano- 
ther petition of Dethick, then lord mayor, is part of the subject 
of a letter to the king of France. 



140 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

house in Petty-France in Westminster, next door to 
the lord Scudamore's opening into St. James's 
Park." The reason of his removal is explained in 
the order of Council, which has just been cited; 
with which Phillips was evidently unacquainted. 
We follow him then to his garden-house, in which 
he continued till within a few weeks of the Restora- 
tion. 

From June till December 1651 no entry, relating 
to him, occurs in the Council-book. On the 29th 
of the latter month, it is ordered, " that Mr. Mil- 
ton be continued Secretarie for Forr eigne Lan- 
guages to this Councell for this yeare to comer 
In this interval of six months, he was suffering under 
the near approach of total blindness, the symptoms 
of which he has minutely described, in 1654, to his 
friend Leonard Philaras ; adding, that his left eye 
began to fail some years before the other. Of 
that eye he is accordingly said to have lost the use 
in 1651. But he still exercised the duties of his sta- 
tion; in which, however, about this time, the ne- 
phew, whom we have just seen as a controversialist 
in behalf of his uncle, probably became, in the qua-r 
lity of z clerk, a considerable assistant. 

: " 1651-2. Jan. 2. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doe 
prepare a Letter in Latine, of the substance of what 



2 See the note, in a subsequent page, on the order of July 29, 
1652. 



AKD WRITINGS OF MILTON. 141 

was now read here in English, to be a sent to the 
Duke of Tuscany, to be brought to the Councell, to 
be there read, for the approbation of the Councell. 

" 1651-2. Jan. 23. Ordered, that Mr. Milton 
doe make a translate of the paper this day sent' in 
to the Councell from the lords ambassadors of the 
High and Mighty Lords the States Generall of the 
United Provinces ; which the Committee for Foreign 
Affaires are to take into consideration, and prepare 
an answer thereto, to be reported to the Councell. 

" 1651-2. March 3. Ordered, that the Xetter 
now read, which is prepared to be b sent to the 
Queen of Sweden along with the agent intended to 

a See the published Literce Senatus &c. of Milton, " Parla- 
mentum Reipub. Angl. &c. Duci Etruriae salutem." Signed, 
W. Lenthall, Speaker, &c. and dated Jan. 20, 1651, (i. e. 
1651-2.) 

b See the published Literce Senatus &c. of Milton, Pari. Reip. 
Angl. Christinse Suecorum, &c. Reginse. Dat. Westmon. die — 
Mart. 1651. Whether now, or at a subsequent opportunity, he 
addressed to this fantastick lady his celebrated verses, (Bellipo- 
tens Virgo, &c.) in the name of Cromwell, is uncertain. But 
that Milton was the author of these eight encomiastick lines, and 
not Andrew Marvell, as some have contended, I think is most 
probable. Christina ceased to be queen of Sweden in 1654, and 
Marvell was not associated with Milton in the secretaryship be- 
fore 1657. The verses are indeed printed in Marvell's Poems, 
which are said to have been printed from copies under his own 
hand-writing; and there might have been a transcript of Milton's 
epigram, given to him perhaps after they became joint-secreta- 
ries. Milton also highly panegyrises Christina in his Prose- 
Works. 



142 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

be sent thither, be humbly represented to the Par- 
liament ; and the lord Commissioner Whitelocke is 
desired to doe it accordingly ; and that the copie of 
this Letter be translated into Latine. 

" 1651-2. March 8. Ordered, that the remainder 
of the Articles to bee offered to the Dutch ambas- 
sadors, which were not taken up this day, be taken 
up to-morrow in the afternoone the first businesse. 

" That soe many of the Articles, as are already 
passed, bee sent to Mr. Milton to be translated into 
Latine. 

" 1651-2. March 9. Ordered, that the Articles, 
now read, in answer to the thirty-six Articles offered 
to the Councell by the Dutch ambassadours, bee 
translated into Latine by Thursday next in the 
afternoone. 

" c 1652. March 31. Ordered, that the Paper, 
now prepared to be given in answer to the Spanish 
ambassadour, bee approved, translated, signed, and 
sent to him. 

" That Mr. Milton doe translate the d said Paper 

c Between this and the preceding order the appointment of 
Mr. Weckherlyn, already noticed, is given ; in which there is 
nothing relating to Milton. 

d See the Literal Senatus, &c. Ad Legatum Hispan. dat. 
March 21, 1652. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 143 

out of English into Latine, to be sent along, as a 
copie. 

" 1652. April 7. Ordered, that the answer to 
the King of Denmarke, now read, bee approved of, 
and translated into Latine by Mr. Weckerlyn. 

" 1652. April 15. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read, to be sent to the Dutch ambassadours, bee 
approved of, and sent to Mr. Milton to be translated 
into Latine. 

" 1652. April 21. Ordered, that the Latine let- 
ter, now read, to be sent to the Duke of Savoy, be 
approved, faire written, signed, and sent ; and deli- 
vered to the parties concerned. 

" 1652. April 27. Ordered, that the Paper, 
which was read in answer to the last Paper from 
the Dutch ambassadours, be approved of, faire writ- 
ten, and signed. 

" That the Latine translation of the Paper, 
now read, be approved, and sent alonge with the 
other. 

" 1652. April 28. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read, to be given to the Dutch ambassadours by the 
Commissioners appointed to treat with them, bee 
approved of; and that it be translated into Latine, 
the English copye signed, and both Latyne and 



144 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

English copyes are to be kept untill they shall be 
called for by the lord Commissioner Whitelock, 

" 1652. May 26. Ordered, that the answere to 
the Paper, delivered unto the Commissioners of the 
Councell, appointed on that behalfe, by Monsieur 
Applebom, Publique Minister of the Queene of 
Sweden ; and also the answere to the Queene of 
Sweden, now reported to the Councell from the 
Committee of Forreigne Affaires ; be translated into 
Latine, and humbly represented to Parliament for 
their approbation. 

" 1652. July 6. Ordered, that the e Articles now 
read, and reported from the Committee of Forreigne 
Affaires, in answere to the proposalls of the Danish 
ambassadours ; and alsoe the Articles, prepared to 
be given to the said ambassadours from the Coun- 
cell; bee approved of, and translated into Latine. 

1652. July 13. Ordered, that Mr. Thurloe doe 
appoint fitt persons to translate the Parliament's de- 
claration into Latine, French, and Dutch. 

" 1652. July 20. Memorandum, send to Mr. 
Dugard to speake with Mr. Milton concerning the 
printing the declaration. 

" Mem. send to Mr. Milton the order, made on 

e They are in the published Literce. Senatus &c. of Miltoiu .. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



145 



Lord's Day last was sevennight, concerning doctor 
Walker. 

" 1652. July 29. Ordered, that a copie of the 
f Declaration of Parliament, concerning the business 
of the Dutch, bee sent to each of the ambassadours 
and publique ministers in towne, and alsoe to the 
publique ministers of this Commonwealth abroad. 

" 1652. Aug. 10. Ordered, that the Paper, now 



f Before this Declaration had been published, and after hosti- 
lities had taken place, one of the captains of the English fleet 
thus addressed Cromwell : " My Lord, I find the most, and in- 
deed those that are best principled and most conscientious of our 
commanders, doe much desire some information of the justness 
of our quarrell with the Hollander, which they doe not in the 
least doubt of; yett I find them somewhat troubled and dejected 
for theyr ignorance in that poynt, &c. Your Excellencyes most 
faithful servant, Will. Penn. From on board the Tryumph 
in the Downes, 2 June 1652." Grig. State-Letters, &c. pre- 
served by Milton, ut supr. p. 87. 

Edward Phillips, the biographer of his uncle Milton, relates a 
curious circumstance too respecting the Dutch business ; in which 
the situation of his brother John, as a clerk or assistant under 
his uncle, seems to be intended. " Before the war broke out 
between the States of England and the Dutch," Phillips says, 
" the Hollanders sent over three ambassadours in order to an 
accomodation ; but they returning re infectd, the Dutch sent 
away a plenipotentiary, to offer peace upon much milder terms, 
or at least to gain more time. But this plenipotentiary could not 
make such haste, but that the Parliament had procured a copy 
of their instructions in Holland, which were delivered by our 
author to his kinsman that was then with him, to translate for 
the Council to view, before the said plenipotentiary had taken 
shipping for England," &c. Life of Milton. 



146 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

read, in answer to the Paper of the Spanish ambas- 
sadour, bee approved of, translated into Latin, and 
sent to the lord ambassadour of Spaine by Sir Oliver 
Fleming. 

" 1652. Oct. 1. Ordered, that the Answer, now 
read, to be given to the Danish ambassadours from 
the Councell, bee approved of; and that it be trans- 
lated into Latine, and sent to the said ambassadours. 

" 1652. Oct. 7. Ordered, that the Paper, this 
day given in to the Councell by the lord ambassa- 
dour from the King of Portugall, be translated by 
Mr. Milton into English, and brought in to the Coun- 
cell to-morrow afternoone. 

" 1652. Oct. 21. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read, to bee sent to the Portugall ambassadour, bee 
approved of, translated into Latine, and carried to 
the said ambassadour by Sir Oliver Fleming, Master 
of the Ceremonies. 

" 1652. Oct. 22. Ordered, that the Paper, signed 
by Mr. Speaker, to bee sent to the Danish ambassa- 
dours, bee translated into Latine, and sent unto them 
by Sir Oliver Fleming. 

" 1652. Oct. 28. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read to the Councell, to be given in to the Portugall 
ambassadour to-morrow in the afternoone by the Com- 
mittee of the Councell appointed to that purpose, bee 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 147 

translated into Latine, and delivered by them to the 
said ambassadour. 

" 1652. Nov. 3. Ordered, that the Letter, now 
read, which is to bee sent to the King of Denmark, 
bee approved of and translated into Latine, and of- 
fered to Mr. Speaker to bee signed by him ; and the 
lord President is desired to offer it to him. 

" 1652. Nov. 19. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read at the Councell, in answer to the Paper deli- 
vered in to the Councell from the Portugal ambas- 
sadour, bee approved of and translated into Latine, 
and delivered by the Committee of this Councell to 
the Portugal ambassadour. 

" 1652. Dec. 1. Ordered, that Mr. Milton he 
continued in the employment he had the last yeare, 
and have the same allowance for it as he had the 
last ijeareT 

We have thus brought the great poet to the close 
of the year 1652, in which his sight was wholly lost 
to him. For he is inhumanly upbraided with his 
blindness in Du Moulin's Regii Sanguinis Clamor, 
published in 1652 ; and in Thurloe's State-Papers, 
the fact is coupled with his celebrity, in a letter from 
the Hague, dated 20 Jun. 1653. " Vous avez en 
Angleterre un aveugle nomme Milton, qui a le re- 
nom d'avoir bien escrit." He himself has s told us, 

g In his Defensio Secunda. 
l 2 



148 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

that his opponents triumphantly considered his loss 
of sight as a judgement from heaven upon him for 
writing against the King ; while he solemnly appeals 
to God, that what he had written he believed to 
have been right and true ; and that he was influenced 
neither by ambition, nor a thirst of gain, but entirely 
by duty, and honour, and love of his country. The 
reproach was long afterwards revived, when milder 
topicks might have better suited the occasion which 
elicited it, and have suppressed before a Christian 
audience the h solemn utterance of an uncharitable 
and rash opinion. The fact is, Milton's eyes had 
been gradually failing, long before he had written or 
even thought of writing against the King, owing to 
the midnight studies of his youth ; " the wearisome 
labours and studious watchings" as he feelingly 
calls them, " wherein I have spent and tired out 
almost a whole youth? For soon after this com- 
plaint, which his Apology for Smectymnuus records, 
the dreaded evil was at hand ; and from 1644 his 
sight was on the decline. ■ He had been cautioned 
by his physicians, while he was writing his Defence 
of the People, to desist from the task, if he valued 
the preservation of his sight; but he was undismayed 

h In a Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of Exeter 
by Thomas Long, one of the Prebendaries, 1684, p. 14. " For 
my part," he says, " I shall like it (the Icon Basilike) better for 
that which scurrilous Milton said to defame it ; viz. ' that the 
king's party admired it, and were stricken with such blindness, as, 
next to the darkness of Egypt, happened not to any people more 
gross or misleading.' For which saying, perhaps it was, that 
Milton himself was smitten with blindness long before his death !" 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 149 

by their opinion, and did not hesitate to prefer what 
he thought his duty to his eyes ; and, after their orbs 
were quenched, he nobly tells us, that, while he 
despised the resentment of those who rebuked his 
darkness, he did not want the charity to forgive 
them. At the desire of his friend Leonard Philaras, 
a celebrated Athenian, and ambassadour from the 
Duke of Parma at Paris, (who had written an enco- 
mium of his Defence?) he sent him a particular ac- 
count of his calamity ; not without an expectation, 
which alas ! was never gratified, of deriving benefit 
from the opinion of Thevenot, a physician particu- 
larly distinguished as an oculist. Milton's curious 
and admirable letter, which is the fifteenth of his 
Latin epistles, has been translated by Mr. Richard- 
son and Mr. Hayley. In the more attractive lan- 
guage of the latter, I submit it to the reader. 

" As I have cherished from my childhood (if ever 
mortal did) a reverential fondness for the Grecian 
name, and for your native Athens in particular, so 
have I continually persuaded myself, that at some 
period I should receive from that city a very signal 
return for my benevolent regard : nor has the ancient 
genius of your most noble country failed to realize 
my presage ; he has given me in you an Attick bro- 
ther, and one most tenderly attached to me. Though 
I was known to you only by my writings, and though 
your residence was far distant from mine, you first 
addressed me in the most engaging terms by letter ; 
and afterwards coming unexpectedly to London, and 



150 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

visiting the stranger, who had no eyes to see you, 
continued your kindness to me under that calamity, 
which can render me a more eligible friend to no 
one, and to many, perhaps, may make me an object 
of disregard. 

" Since, therefore, you request me not to reject 
all hope of recovering my sight, as you have an inti- 
mate friend at Paris, in Thevenot the physician, who 
excels particularly in relieving ocular complaints, 
and whom you wish to consult concerning my eyes, 
after receiving from me such an account as may 
enable him to understand the source and symptoms 
of my disorder, I will certainly follow your kind 
suggestion, that I may not appear to reject assist- 
ance thus offered me, perhaps providentially. 

" It is about ten years, I think, since I perceived 
my sight to grow weak and dim, finding at the 
same time my intestines afflicted with flatulence and 
oppression. 

" Even in the morning, if I began as usual to read, 
my eyes immediately suffered pain, and seemed to 
shrink from reading, but, after some moderate bodily 
exercise, were refreshed; whenever I looked at a 
candle I saw a sort of iris around it. Not long 
afterwards, on the left side of my left eye (which 
began to fail some years before the other) a darkness 
arose, that hid from me all things on that side ; — if 
I chanced to close my right eye, whatever was be- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 151 

fore me seemed diminished. — In the last three years, 
as my remaining eye failed by degrees some months 
before my sight was utterly gone, all things that I 
could discern, though I moved not myself, appeared 
to fluctuate, now to the right, now to the left. Obsti- 
nate vapours seem to have settled all over my fore- 
head and my temples, overwhelming my eyes with a 
sort of sleepy heaviness, especially after food, till the 
evening ; so that I frequently recollect the condition 
of the prophet Phineus in the Argonau ticks : 

' Him vapours dark 



1 Enveloped, and the earth appeared to roll 
' Beneath him, sinking in a lifeless trance/ 

But I should not omit to say, that while I had some 
little sight remaining, as soon as Iwent to bed, and 
reclined on either side, a copious light used to dart 
from my closed eyes ; then, as my sight grew daily 
less, darker colours seemed to burst forth with vehe- 
mence, and a kind of internal noise ; but now, as if 
every thing lucid were extinguished, blackness, either 
absolute or chequered, and interwoven as it were 
with ash-colour, is accustomed to pour itself on my 
eyes ; yet the darkness perpetually before them, as 
well during the night as in the day, seems always 
approaching rather to white than to black, admitting, 
as the eye rolls, a minute portion of light as through 
a crevice. 

* Though from your physician such a portion of 
hope also may arise, yet, as under an evil that admits 



152 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



no cure, I regulate and tranquillize my mind, often 
reflecting, that since the days of darkness allotted to 
each, as the wise man reminds us, are many, hitherto 
my darkness, by the singular mercy of God, with the 
aid of study, leisure, and the kind conversation of my 
friends, is much less oppressive than the deadly dark- 
ness to which he alludes. / For if, as it is written, 
man lives not by bread alone, but by every word 
that proceeds from the mouth of God, why should 
not a man acquiesce even in this ? not thinking that 
he can derive light from his eyes alone, but esteem- 
ing himself sufficiently enlightened by the conduct 
or providence of God. 

" As long therefore, as He looks forward, and pro- 
vides for me as He does, and leads me backward and 
forward by the hand, as it were, through my whole 
life, shall I not cheerfully bid my eyes keep holiday, 
since such appears to be His pleasure ? But whatever 
may be the event of your kindness, my dear Philaras, 
with a mind not less resolute and firm than if I were 
Lynceus himself, I bid you farewell. Westminster, 
Sept. 28, 1654." 

Thus " content, though blind," he expressed him- 
self with his usual animation. His mind, as Dr. 
Johnson remarks, was too strong to be subdued. 
With assistance for the duties of his office indeed he 
had, 5 before this period, been provided ; and his 

1 See the note on the order of July 29, 1652. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 153 

salary, we have seen, was continued. The year 
1653, presents him not by name, in the orders of the 
Council-Book, employed as in the preceding years ; 
though, towards the close of it, he is retained in 
office with undiminished reward. And therefore in 
the following transactions, till October, we may con- 
clude that to him the letters were still sent for a 
Latin translation; a task, in which he would be 
assisted by his younger nephew. But to employ- 
ment of this description Mr. Philip Meadowes is 
also, in October, expressly delegated ; when the offi- 
cial labours of Milton, no doubt, were lightened, but 
still occasionally required. 

" 1652-3. Feb. 2. Ordered, that the Letter, now 
read to the Duke of k Venice, bee approved of, trans- 
lated into Latine, and sent to the Secretary of that 
Commonwealth, in order to be sent by him to Venice. 

" 1652-3. Feb. 4. Ordered, that the Articles, 
now read, to be propounded to the Portugall ambas- 
sadour, bee approved of, translated into Latine, and 
delivered to the said lord ambassadour. 

" 1653. June 28. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read, in answer to the Paper of the lords Deputyes 
from the United Provinces, bee approved of, trans- 
lated into Latin, and delivered unto them. 



k See the Litercc Senatus, &c. in which this letter is dated in 
Dec. 1652. 



154 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" 1653. Aug. 10. Ordered, that the Answer to 
the Paper of the lord Lagerfeldt, Publique Minister 
of the Queen of Sweden, of the 3 d . of August, now 
read in the Councell, bee translated into Latin, 
and delivered unto the said lord Lagerfeldt by the 
Committee of the Councell to-morrow in the after- 
noone. 

" 1653. Oct. 17. Ordered, that Mr. Philip Mea- 
dowes, now employed by the Councell in Latin 
translations, doe alsoe assist Mr. Thurloe in the dis- 
patch of the Forreigne businesse ; and that he have 
in consideration thereof one hundred pounds per an- 
num, to be added to the one hundred pounds per 
annum he now receives of the Councell. 

" 1653. Oct. 18. Ordered, that the Councell 
for Forreigne Affaires doe meet to-morrow morning, 
and take into consideration the several Papers which 
have been given in to this Councell from the lord 
Lagerfeldt, and what is rltt to be returned in an- 
swer to them ; and to give order for the preparing 
of such answers as they shall think fitt, and to re- 
port them to the Councell with all convenient speed ; 
and Mr. Meadowes is to be sent unto to attend that 
Committee, who are to sit to-morrow morning by 
eight of the clocke. 

" 1653. Oct. 27. Ordered, that the Recreden- 
tial!, prepared for the lord Lagerfeldt, be approved 
of, translated into Latine, and reported to the Par- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 155 

liament, in pursuance of a former order of the 
Councell. 

" 1653. Nov. 3. Ordered, that Mr. John Mil- 
ton doe remayne in the same capacity he was in 
to the last Councell, and that he have the same 
allowance for it as formerly? 

Perhaps it was in 1653 that Milton lost his first 
wife ; and that to this circumstance may be imputed the 
diminution of official reference to him in that year. 
He was probably indulged with leave of absence. 
All his biographers say, that he had not long been 
settled in the abode, w^hich he had chosen in 1652, 
before this lady, the pardoned Eve of his own poem, 
died in childbed, leaving him three daughters. In 
the preceding year, or in 1650, he had lost an in- 
fant son. To a second wife he was not united be- 
fore 1656. She also died in childbed, and l within 
a year after their marriage. Milton honoured her 
memory with a Sonnet. She was the daughter of 
Captain Woodcock of Hackney, and probably re- 
lated to Francis Woodcock, one of the Assembly of 
Divines. 

What remains to be told of Milton from the Coun- 
cil-Book, now follows. 

1 " Mrs. Catharine Milton, wife to John Milton, Esq. buried, 
Feb. 10, 1657." Bishop Rennet's MS. Collections for St. Mar- 
garet's Parish, Westminster, cited by Mr. Malcolm in his enter- 
taining Hist, of London, vol, iv. p. 128, 



156 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" 1653-4. Feb. 1. Ordered, that Friday next in 
the afternoone be assigned for receiving from Mr. 
Secretary Thurloe what he shall offer in reference to 
an establishment of the clerks and officers to attend 
the Councell. 

" 1653-4. Feb. 3. According to an order of 
Wednesday last, Mr. Secretary Thurloe did this 
day present to the Councell an establishment of 
under-clerkes and officers for attending and dispatch 
of the affaires of the Councell, viz. 

f . s. d. 

(e Mr. Philip Meadowes, Latine Se- 1 ~ nft 
cretary, at per annum 3 

" The Serjeant at Armes, at twenty } « fi - 
shillings per diem 3 

" Mr. Gualter Frost, Treasurer fori 
the Councell's Contingencies, at per)" 400 
annum * 

" Mr. Milton. [[No salary is specified.^ 

u Seaven Under-Clerks, &c. 

" 1654. Oct. 19. The English and Latin draught 
of a Letter from his Highnesse the lord Protector 
to the States Provinciall of Zealand Was this day 
read. Ordered, that it be offered to his Highnesse, 
as the advice of the Councell, that the said Letter 
(according to the Latin copie) be signed by his 
Highnesse, and sent to the said States Provinciall, 
in answer of theirs to his Highnesse of the 7th of 
August last. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 157 

" 1655. April 17. The Councell resumed the 
debate upon the Report made from the Committee 
of the Councell, to whom it was referred to con- 
sider of the establishment of the Councell's contin- 
gencies. 

" Ordered, that the salary of fower hundred 
pounds per annum graunted to Mr. Gualter Frost, 
as Treasurer for the Councell's contingencies, be re- 
duced to three hundred pounds per annum, and be 
continued to be paid after that proportion till fur- 
ther order. 

" That the former yearly salary of Mr. John 
Milton, of two hundred eighty eight pounds Spc. 
formerly charged on the CouncelVs contingencies, 
be reduced to one hundred and Jiftie pounds per 
annum, and paid to him during his life out of his 
Highnesses Exchequer. 

" That it be offered to his Highness, as the ad- 
vice of the Councell, that several warrants be issued 
under the Great Seale for authorising and requiring 
the Commissioners of his Highness's treasury to pay, 
by quarterly payments, at the receipt of his High- 
ness's Exchequer, to the several officers, clerkes, and 
other persons afternamed, according to the propor- 
tions formerly allowed them for their salaryes, in 
respect of their severall and respective offices and 
imployments, or till his Highness or the Councell 
shall give other order : That is to say, 



158 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

£. s. d. 

" To John Thurloe Esq. Secretary } 

of State, for his own fee, after the> 

/ i per annum. 

proportion of J 

" For the fee of Mr. Phillip MeaO 

dowes, Secretary for the Latin Tongue, r ' 

J \ per annum, 

after the rate of J 

" For the salary of Clerkes attending the 

office, at 6s. 8d. p diem apiece," &c. 

From this time, Dr. Sumner says, " m it is pre- 
sumed that Milton ceased to be employed in publick 
business, as his name does not again occur in the 
Books of the Council of State, which continue in 
uninterrupted succession till the 2nd of September, 
1658, the day preceding the death of Cromwell." 
The reduction too of Milton's salary from nearly 
three hundred pounds to half that sum " must have 
been intended," it has also been urged, " as a re- 
tiring 'pension in consideration of past services ; 
as is evident from the appointment of a successor, 
(Mr. Meadowes,) at a reduced salary, to discharge the 
duties of his office." I venture to think, however, that 
Milton still retained the name and the divided duty 
of the secretaryship. We have proof, that long after 
the date of April 1655, his matchless pen was offi- 
cially required, and was ready. Witness his elegant 
and feeling letters written in the name of the Pro- 

m Introduction to Milton's Treatise on Christian Doctrine, 
1825, p. ii. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 159 

lector throughout that year, and the three following. 
And if such splendid evidence of his talents thus 
publickly employed had been wanting, he is also 
found, after the death of Oliver, remunerated for his 
services, which then had been divided with those of 
Andrew Marvell, as before they had been with those 
of Philip Meadowes, not with the reduced sum of 
one hundred and fifty pounds, but with n that of 
two hundred. Hence the letters also, in 1658 and 
1659, written in the name of the Protector Richard. 
To him likewise had been sent the Articles of the 
Swedish Treaty, as Whitlock informs us, in 1656, 
in order to a Latin translation of them ; when, it is 
curious to observe the sequel, the Swedish ambassador 
said, " ° that it seemed strange to him there should 
be none but a blind man capable of putting a few 
articles into Latine ; The employment of Mr. Milton 
was excused to him, because several other servants 
of the Council, fit for the imployment, were then 
absent." In the year too of his supposed retirement, 
(1655,) he produced the p Manifesto of Oliver, de- 
claring the reasons of the war with Spain, a per- 
formance rightly adjudged to him, Dr. New r ton has 
observed, both on account of the peculiar elegance 
of the style, and because it was his province to write 



" See the order, presently cited, dat. Oct. 25, 1659. 

° Mem. p. 633. ed. 1682. 

p The Latin copy was first printed in 1655, afterwards in the 
collection of Milton's Prose- Works, and was published in an Eng- 
lish translation in 1738, with Thomson's Britannia added to it; 
and of this translation there were two editions in the same year. 



160 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

such things as Latin Secretary. Such was the con- 
tinuation of his activity in the preceding year, in 
which he had published his "■ Defensio Secunda pro 
Populo Anglicano, contra infamem libellum anony- 
mum, cui titulus, Regit Sanguinis Clamor ad 
coelum adversus Parricidas Anglicanos" 

Of the book, which had excited a reply so cele- 
brated as the Defensio Secunda of Milton, some 
notice is necessary. The author was Peter du Mou- 
lin the younger, afterwards prebendary of Canter- 
bury. He had transmitted his papers to Salmasius, 
by whom they were entrusted, for publication, to 
Alexander Morus. Du Moulin had been already in 
too much danger not to know the necessity of con- 
cealment. In the late King's service he had written 
his " Apologie de la Religion Reformee, et de la 
Monarchic, et de Y Eglise d' Angleterre," &c. which, 
he has himself recorded, " q was begun at York, 
during the siege, in a roome whose chimney was 
beaten downe by the cannon while I was at my 
work ; and, after the siege and my expulsion from 
the rectory at Wheldrake, it was finisht in an under- 
ground cellar, where I lay hid to avoyd warrants 
that were out against me from Committees to ap- 
prehend me and carry me prisoner to Hull, — 
Much about the same time I set out my Latin 

q From the copy of his book in the Library of Canterbury 
Cathedral, numbered L. iv. 50. ; the first five leaves of which 
contain a manuscript relation, written with his own hand, of his 
services in the cause of royalty. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 161 

poeme Ecclesice Gemitus with a long epistle to all 
Christians in defence of the King and the Church of 
England ; and two years after Clamor Regii San- 
guinis ad coelum." Here is a proof, that Milton 
had mistaken the publisher for the author. Milton, 
in this Second Defence has treated Morus both with 
severity and ridicule. Morus replied in his Fides 
Publica, into which were interwoven, with the vain 
hope of blunting the keenness of Milton's satire, tes- 
timonies of character, and a disavowal of the book. 
Du Moulin was now again in great danger. His 
dismayed publisher gave his enemies the means of 
discovering him ; but they suffered him to escape, 
rather than they would publickly convict Milton of 
his errour. Milton, on being informed that Du 
Moulin, and not Morus, was the author of the 
Clamor, is said to have replied, " r Well ! that was 
all one, he having writt it £his Second Defence^, it 
should goe into the world ; one of them was as bad 
as the other." Morus, however, is still the object of 
his attack in his Authoris pro se Defensio, pub- 
lished in 1655, as a reply to the Fides Publica. 
Morus ventured to rejoin in a Supplementum, which 
was soon silenced by a brief Responsio from Milton ; 
and the controversy closed. 

Associated with Milton in the office of Latin Secre- 
tary, Andrew Marvell now presents himself to our 
notice in 1657 ; before which time, he tells us that he 

r Aubrey's Life of Milton. 

M 



162 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" s never had any, not the remotest, relation to pub- 
lick matters, nor correspondence with the persons 
then predominant ;" but that he then " enter'd into 
an imployment, for which he was not altogether im- 
proper, and which he considered to be the most inno- 
cent and inoffensive towards his Majesties affairs of 
any in that usurped and irregular Government to 
which all men were then exposed. And this he 
accordingly discharg'd without disobliging any one 
person ; there having been opportunity and endea- 
vours, since his Majesties happy return, to have dis- 
cover'd had it been otherwise. ,, 

Yet an original letter from Milton to Bradshawe, 
in behalf of Marvell, carries us back to the com- 
mencement of the year 1653 ; which, however, ap- 
pears not at that time to have been effectual as to 
its object ; Mr. Philip Mead owes, as we have seen, 
being then and in the two succeeding years named 
in the Orders of the Council as Latin Secretary, 
while of Marvell within that period there is no men- 
tion. But, to this application of Milton, Marvell, 
no doubt, owed his subsequent introduction into 
office. The letter, endorsed For the Honourable 
the Lord Bradshaw, remains in his Majesty's 
State-Paper Office, and was discovered while these 
pages were passing through the press by the gentle- 
man, to whose zeal and accuracy I have been in- 
debted for copies of the literary and political curi- 

* Rehearsall Transpros'd, Sec. Part, p. 127. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 163 

osities which the present and the preceding section 
have exhibited, Mr. Lemon, the deputy keeper of the 
State-Papers; permitted as he has been, thus to ex- 
ercise his kindness, by the concurrent condescension 
and promptness, which I am also proud to acknow- 
ledge, of Mr. Secretary Peel and Mr. Henry Hobhouse. 

" My Lord, 

" But that it would be an interruption to 
y e publick, wherein yo l studies are perpetually im- 
ployed, I should now and then venture to supply 
this my enforced absence w th a line or two, though 
it were my onely busines, and that would be noe 
slight one, to make my due acknowledgments of y r 
many favoures ; w ch I both doe at this time, and 
ever shall : and have this farder, w ch I thought my 
parte to let you know of, that there will be w lh you 
to morrow, upon some occasion of busines, a Gentle- 
man whose name is Mr. Marvile ; a man whom 
both by report, and y e converse I have had w th him, 
of singular desert for y e State to make use of ; who 
alsoe offers himselfe if y ere be any imployment for 
him. His father was y e Minister of Hull, and he 
hath spent foure yeares abroad in Holland, France, 
Italy, and Spaine, to very good purpose, as I be- 
leeve, and y e gaineing of those four languages ; be- 
sides he is a scholler, and well read in y e Latin and 
Greek authors ; and noe doubt of an approved con- 
versation, for he corn's now lately out of y e house of 
y e Lord Fairefax, who was Generall, where he was 
intrusted to give some instructions in y e Languages 

m2 



164 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

to y e Lady his Daughter. If upon y e death of Mr. 
4 Wakerley, y e Councell shall thinke y* I shall need 
any assistant in y c performance of my place (though 
for my p* I find noe encumbrances of that w cb be- 
longs to me, except it be in point of attendance at 
conferences w th Ambassadors, w ch I must confesse, 
in my Condition, I am not fit for,) it would be hard 
for them to find a Man soe fit every way for y* pur- 
pose as this Gentleman, one who I beleeve in a short 
time would be able to doe them as good service as 
Mr. Ascan. This, my Lord, I write sinceerely, with- 
out any other end than to performe my dutey to y e 
Publiek, in helping them to an able servant ; laying 
aside those jealosies, and that emulation, w ch mine 
owne condition might suggest to me, by bringing in 
such a coadjutor ; and remaine, 
" My Lord, 

" Yo r . most obliged, and 

" Faithfull Servant, 

{Feb. y e . 21, 
"John Milton. J 1652 ; 

Of MarvelFs regard for Milton, the verses, usually 
prefixed to Paradise Lost, are an elegant testimony. 
In the volume, from which I have made the preceding 
citation, are several anecdotes of Milton and his friends, 
not generally known, as Mr. Warton long since dis- 
covered. This second part of Marvell's Rehearsal 
Transpros'd, published in 1673, is an attack on Dr. 

* Weckherlyn. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 165 

Samuel Parker,, well known for his tergiversation with 
the times ; and of whom it was once said that he 
" u had wit enough to colour any thing though never 
so foule, and impudence enough to affirm any thing 
though never so false." When Mar veil attacked him 
with sarcastick and successful raillery, Parker was 
an antipuritan in the extreme. Marvell thus ex- 
presses his honest indignation against Parker for tra- 
ducing his friend Milton, p. 377. " You do three 
times at least in your Reproof, and in your Trans- 
proser Rehearsed, well nigh half the book thorow, 
run upon an author J. M., which does not a little 
offend me. For why should any other man's reputa- 
tion suffer in a contest betwixt you and me ? But it 
is because you resolved to suspect that lie had a 
hand in my former book, £the first part of The Re- 
hear sail, published in 16 72 J wherein, whether you 
deceive yourself or no, you deceive others extreamly. 
For by chance I had not seen him of two years be- 
fore ; but, after I undertook writing, I did more 
carefully avoid either visiting or sending to him, lest 
I should any way involve him in my consequences. 
And you might have understood, or I am sure your 
friend, the author of the Common Places, could 
have told you, (he too had a slash at J. M. upon my 
account,) that had he took you in hand, you would 
have had cause to repent the occasion, and not 
escaped so easily as you did under my Trans- 
prosal. — But because in your 115. p. you are so 

u Preface to " A Caveat to the Cavaliers," 166L 



166 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

particular you know a friend of ours, &c. intending 
that J. M. and his answer to Salmasius, I think it 
here seasonable to acquit my promise to you in giving 
the reader a short trouble concerning my first ac- 
quaintance with you. J. M. was, and is, a man of 
as great learning and sharpness of wit as any man. 
It was his misfortune, living in a tumultuous time, 
to be tossed on the wrong side ; and he writ, flag- 
rante hello, certain dangerous treatises. — At his 
Majesty's happy return, J. M. did partake, as you 
yourself did, for all your huffing, of his royal cle- 
mency, and has ever since expiated himself in a re- 
tired silence. It was after that, I well remember it, 
that, being one day at his house, I there first met 
you, and accidentally. — Then it was, when you, as I 
told you, wandered up and down Morefields, astrolo- 
gizing upon the duration of his Majesty's government, 
that you frequented J. M. incessantly, and haunted 
his house day by day. What discourses you there 
used, he is too generous to remember. But he never 
having in the least provoked you, for you to insult 
thus over his old age, to traduce him by your scara- 
muccios, and in your own person, as a schoolmaster, 
who was born and hath lived more ingenuously and 
liberally than yourself; to have done all this, and lay 
at last my simple book to his charge, without ever 
taking care to inform yourself better, which you had 
so easy an opportunity to do : — it is inhumanly and 
inhospitably done ; and will, I hope, be a warning to 
all others, as it is to me, to avoid (I will not say) such 
a Judas, but a man that creeps into all companies to 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 167 

jeer, trepan, and betray them." Marvell, however, 
was mistaken in attributing the Transproser Re- 
hearsed to Parker ; which, as Mr. Warton remarks, 
was written by R. Leigh, formerly of Queen's Col- 
lege, Oxford, but then a player. It was printed at 
Oxford in 1673, "for the Assignes of Hugo Gro- 
tius, and Jacob Van Harmine, on the 'North-side 
of the Lake Lemane /" A more scurrilous or inde- 
cent publication has seldom disgraced the press. 
The contemptible writer ridicules the Paradise 
Lost, because it is written in blank verse, p. 30 ; 
and for the same reason calls Milton a schismatick in 
poetry, p. 43. He describes the poet as groping 
for a beam of light in that sublime apostrophe, 
" Hail, holy Light," &c. p. 43. And he reproaches 
him as a Latin Secretary and an English School- 
master, p. 128. With the obscenities of this scrib- 
bler I will not soil these pages. I must add that 
the Reproof in which Milton is called a friend of 
ours, was certainly written by Parker. But Parker's 
friendly voice was afterwards changed. Neither Mil- 
ton nor Marvell, however, lived to read the abuse, 
which Parker bestows on both of them in his pos- 
thumous Comment arii sui temporis ; of which Mr. 
Warton has given the following translated passage, 
relating to the pamphleteers against the royal party 
at Cromwell's accession. 

" Among these calumniators was a rascal, one 
Marvell. As he had spent his youth in debauchery, 
so, from natural petulance, he became the tool of 



168 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

faction in the quality of satyrist : yet with more scur- 
rility than wit, and with a mediocrity of talents, but 
not of ill-nature. Turned out of doors by his father, 
expelled the university, a vagabond, a ragged and 
hungry poetaster, kicked and cudgelled in every ta- 
vern, he was daily chastised for his impudence. At 
length he was made under secretary to Cromwell, 
by the procuration of Milton, to whom he was a very 
acceptable character, on account of a similar male- 
volence of disposition," &c. B. iv. p. 275. This 
passage was perhaps written about the year 1680. 
Paradise Lost, Mr. Warton adds, had now been 
published thirteen years, and its excellencies must 
have been fully estimated and sufficiently known; 
yet in such terms of contempt, or rather neglect, 
was its author now described, by a popular writer, 
certainly a man of learning, and very soon after- 
wards a bishop. Parker became indeed a bishop ; 
but he was also the obtruded president of Mag- 
dalene College, Oxford ; the minion of a popish 
king. 

The salary of Marvell was the same as Milton's ; 
that is, in its last arrangement. For at a former 
period the allowance to the latter was of " higher 
mood." The orders of Cromwell in 1653-4, and of 
the Council in 1659, are curious illustrations of these 
circumstances ; and with them what relates to Mil- 
ton, as Latin Secretary, closes. They are entries in 
the books of the Money Warrants issued by order 
of the Council of State. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 169 

" 1653-4. Feb. 3. Oliver, P. 

" These are to will and require you, out of such 
moneys as are in or shall come to your hands for 
the use of the Councell, to pay unto the severall 
persons, on the other side endorsed, the severall 
sums to their names mentioned, making in all the 
summ of one thousand seventy eight pounds, twelve 
shillings, and a penny, being soe much due unto 
them on the 1st of January last, intended for their 
severall s alar yes ; of which you are not to fayle, and 
for which this shall be your warrant. Given at 
Whitehall the 3d of Feb. 1653. 

" To Mr. Gualter Frost. 

£. s. d. 



a 



Mr. Secretary Thurloe for one \ 

\ 9 



71 



quarter from the 2d of Oct. to thev 200 
1st of Jan. last included 3 

" Mr. Jessop, 17 Oct. to the 1st of ^ 77 n 
Jan. incl. 77 dayes 3 

" Mr. Gualter Frost, as Secretary 
Assistant to the said Councell of State, 
from the same time to the 12th Dec. 
71 dayes 

" Mr. John Milton for halfe a 
ye are, from 4>th July to the first of\ 
Jan. last inclusive, at 15s. 10 jd. 
per diem 

" Mr. Philip Meadowes, for one > ^n n 
quarter from the 2d Oct. to 1st Jan. i 

" The Clarkes, &c. 



144 9 3 



170 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

1659. Oct. 25. A similar Warrant for pay- 
ment of the Council of State's contingencies to the 
22d of Oct. 1659. 



. Richard Deane . 

" At 500Z. per^TT c , « 

\ \ Henry Scobell . 
annum each / . / 

William Robinson 



£. 


s. 


d. 


234 


7 


6 


234 


7 


6 


88 








86 








86 


12 





86 


12 


0." 



" At 11. per diem Richard Kingdon . 

" At 200Z. per SJohn Milton . . . 

annum each v. Andrew Mar mil . 



Here then is the last payment for official employ- 
ment to Milton; of whom his nephew about the 
same time says, that " a little before the king's 
coming over he was sequestered from his office of 
Latin secretary, and the salary thereunto belong- 
ing' 9 The division of the secretaryship had now 
allowed him leisure to project, among other literary 
considerations, the great and imperishable memorial 
of his fame. Aubrey tells us, that about two years 
before the Restoration Milton began his Paradise 
Lost ; and Anthony Wood, from x Aubrey, relates, 
that " being dispensed with, by having a substitute 
allowed him, and sometimes instructions sent home 
to him, from attending his office of secretary, Milton 
began that laborious work of amassing out of all the 
classick authors, both in prose and verse, a Latin 
Thesaurus, to the emendation of that done by Ste- 
phens; the composing of Paradise Lost ; and the 

x See before what is said of Aubrey's Collections, p. 13. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 171 

framing a Body of Divinity out of the Bible." 
Others ascribe to him, during the happy hours which 
he had now secured for his studies, the design of 
continuing a History of his native country ; with 
which he certainly proceeded after the publication 
of Paradise Lost. Of both these in their order. 
Of the Dictionary I may observe, from Phillips, 
that the preparations which Milton had long been 
making were found so discomposed and deficient, 
" that they could not be y fitted for the press ;" 
while I find, however, that they afforded great 
assistance to the editors of the z Cambridge diction- 
ary in 1693 : and of the Body of Divinity, long 
supposed to be irrecoverably lost, and said to be 
finished after the Restoration, though no particular 
date is named, an account, furnished by the recent 
discovery of it in the State-Paper Office, and since 
published by the gracious command of his Majesty, 
will close the detail of Milton's writings in the fol- 
lowing pages. 

Thus employed upon gigantick plans, we find him 
within the same memorable period not averse to 



y So Phillips relates. Aubrey says, that he heard from the 
poet's widow, that while he was blind he was writing in the heads 
of a dictionary ; and that she gave all his papers, among which 
was this dictionary imperfect, to his nephew Phillips. 

z The editors acknowledge their obligation to manuscript col- 
lections in " three large folios, digested into an alphabetical 
order, which the learned Mr. John Milton had made." Pref. p. 
2. col. 2. 



172 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LTFE 

humbler occupations. He could condescend in 1658 
to the amusement of editing from a manuscript a The 
Cabinet Council of Ralegh. In 1659 he was on the 
alert in behalf of the cause he had so long served, 
and in vindication of his attachment which had been 
questioned ; publishing his Treatise of Civil Power 
in Ecclesiastical b Causes, and his Considerations 
touching the Means of removing Hirelings out of 
the Church. These he addressed to the Parliament 
of the Commonwealth of England. And upon the 
dissolution of the Parliament by the army, he wrote 

a Anthony Wood, in his Account of Sir Walter Ralegh, 
names The Prince or Maxims of State by Ralegh under the year 
1642, and adds, 'tis the same with his Aphorisms of State, pub- 
lished by John Milton, in 1661. And again under 1658 he men- 
tions The Cabinet Council, &c. published by J. Milton aforesaid. 
Now Milton's publication is entitled " The Arts of Empire and 
Mysteries of State discabinated in Political and Polemical Apho- 
risms," &c. So that the two publications, usually mentioned by 
the biographers of the poet, are probably one and the same. The 
Arts of Empire, &c. again issued from the press in 1692. 

b After the Treatise on these Causes was published, Milton 
was thus addressed by Mr. John Wall in a letter, dated May 26, 
1659. " I was uncertain whether your relation [as Secretary] 
to the Court (though I think a Commonwealth was more friendly 
to you than a Court) had not clouded your former light; but 
your last book [this Treatise] resolved that doubt. — Sir, my hum- 
ble request is, that you would proceed, and give us that other 
member of the distribution mentioned in your book, viz. that Hire 
doth greatly impede Truth and Liberty." Pref. to Baron's Edit, 
of the Iconoclastes. Milton did proceed, as his republican friends 
wished, and immediately published the Considerations &c. named 
above. The Treatise &c. was republished in 1790 with a dedi- 
cation to Dr. Richard Price. The Considerations also were 
separately reprinted in 1723. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 173 

A Letter to a Friend concerning the Ruptures 
of the Commonwealth ; and a Brief Declaration 
of a Free Commonwealth, easy to be put in prac- 
tice, and without delay, addressed to General 
Monk. In February 1659-60 he gave to the world, 
what he hoped might not contain " the last words 
of expiring liberty/' his Ready and Easy Way to 
establish a Free Commonwealth, which gave rise 
both to a c serious and a ludicrous reply ; and soon 
afterwards Brief Notes upon a Sermon, preached 
in March 1659-60 by Dr. Matthew Griffith, called 
The Fear of God and the King. His apprehen- 
sion of expiring liberty, as he calls it, was now 
again aroused by the sound eloquence and service- 
able zeal of the preacher ; who boldly affirmed, that 
" without the restitution of King Charles to his na- 
tive rights, we can in reason look for no solid settle- 
ment of religion or law, liberty or property, peace 
or plenty, honour or safety. To all these we can 
never be firmly restored but by the king, and the 
king not forced to come by his birthright as a con- 



c The " Dignity of Kingship asserted in Answer to Mr. Mil- 
ton's Ready and Easy Way, &c. By G. S. A lover of Loyalty. 
Lond. 1660." The author of this serious and often severe Reply 
was probably Mr. George Searle, one of the ejected members of 
the House of Commons, and who was a writer. The burlesque 
answer was pretended to issue from Harrington's club, in order to 
point more strongly the ridicule against Milton. But Harrington's 
club, as Mr. Warton has observed, encouraged all proposals for 
new models of government ; and Milton's intimacy with Skinner, 
one of its most distinguished members, is well known ; so that the 
remonstrance as/rom that quarter may be discredited. 



174 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE Lll'E 

queror, but fairly called in either by this or the next 
Parliament." The angry Notes of Milton were im- 
mediately answered by L'Estrange in a pamphlet, 
insultingly denominated No Blind Guides. To 
this and the other efforts of Milton, in order to pre- 
vent the restoration of kingly government, several 
republican pens added their puny offerings. Such, 
besides the exertions of Harrington, were d Idea 
Democratica, or a Commonweal Platform, and A 
Model of a Democratical Government, both ano- 
nymous productions, in 1659, and closely agreeing 
with the preceding Delineation of Milton. But 
" the ship of the Commonwealth," to use the ex- 
pression of Milton himself, could no longer be kept 
afloat. The gale of popular opinion was adverse. 
Of the Usurpation there were few who were not 
eager to shake off the galling chains. And the name 
and cause of the king were now in the hearty voice 
of almost all. 

Sequestered from his office, Milton therefore quit- 
ted the house which he had occupied while he was 
Secretary, and in which he had lived eight years 
with great reputation ; visited by all foreigners of 
distinction, and by several persons of quality in his 

d Both printed in 1659. The latter proposes that the exercise 
of the chief magistracy and administration of the government 
shall cease " to run in the name and stile of the keepers of the 
Liberty of England by Authority of Parliament ; and shall as- 
sume the name and stile of The Senate and People of England." 
p. 9. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 175 

own country, particularly by the exemplary Lady 
Ranelagh, whose son had been his pupil, and to 
whom four of his familiar letters are addressed ; by 
literary friends too ; such (to follow bishop Newton's 
list) as Marvel, and Lawrence, and Needham, and 
Skinner ; the last of whom had been his scholar, and 
is called by Wood an ingenious young gentleman ; 
and of whom more will be said with the description 
of Milton's Body of Divinity. Needham by the 
same authority is termed an old crony of Milton ; 
and perhaps their intimacy commenced with the in- 
quiry which Milton was e directed to make, in regard 
to the Mercurius Pragmaticus, of which Needham 
was the writer; and which he ceased to conduct, 
being persuaded by Lenthal and Bradshawe to change 
his party, and to publish the Mercurius Politicus ; 
" f siding with the rout and scum of the people, and 
making them weekly sport of all that was noble in 
this new miscellany of intelligence." Even by some 
of the antiregal party this person was despised, and 
g accused of lying as well as railing : so that we 
w r onder at the acquaintance of such a man, however 
considerable his talents were, with Milton. But with 
Lawrence, " the virtuous son of a virtuous father," 
as Milton calls him in his twentieth Sonnet, several 
circumstances led to an early and continued inter- 
course. The family of Lawrence lived in the neigh- 

e See the Order of Council, before cited, p. 111. 
f A. Wood, Ath. Ox. 

e Second Narrative of the Late Parliament, so called, &c. 
1658, p. 28. 



176 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

bourhood of Horton, where the father of Milton re- 
sided. Lawrence gave to the world a treatise, in 
1646, upon a subject of which Milton was evidently 
fond, " Of our Communion and Warre with An- 
gels ;" and we may reasonably suppose, that in the 
friendly visits, to which the Sonnet of Milton alludes, 
the authority of the " h Tuscan muse" upon the 
guardianship of angels often formed a part of their 
conversation ; that Milton perhaps acknowledged 
the hints he had thence derived to some of his earli- 
est strains ; and that the design of Lawrence was 
probably thus encouraged. Of the Council, to which 
Milton was Secretary, the father of Lawrence too at 
length was President ; but he is then described, cer- 
tainly not in unison with the attribute given him by 
Milton, as " * signing many an arbitrary and illegal 
warrant for the carrying of honest faithful men to 
prisons and exile without cause ;" and is at the same 
time called " a gentleman of a courtly breed, and a 
good trencher-man!" 

Aubrey says, that several k foreigners had been 

h The Addresses of the Italian Muse A IV Angela Custode are 
frequent. See " Rime del M. A. M. Negrisoli, Vineg. 1552," 
p. 129, and " Sonetti di Diversi Accademici Sanesi, Sien. 1608," 
pp. 136, 200, 239, &c. I might also add the frequent intro- 
duction of a Spirit or Angel as the annunziatore to the early 
Italian dramas. Compare Milton's Verses addressed to Leonora 
Baroni, his prologue to Comus, and the same poem throughout. 

* Second Narrative, &c. ut supr. p. 2. 

k " He was mightily importuned to goe into Fr. and Italie ; 
foreigners came much to see him, and much admired him ; and 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



177 



induced to visit England, in order chiefly to see 
Cromwell and Milton. In the discharge of his office 
Milton indeed had acquired the highest credit hoth 
abroad and at home ; while as the author of the ex- 
quisite strains in Lycidas, and Comus, and & Alle- 
gro, and 77 Penseroso, he was now *'■ of small re- 
gard to see to." Even the hyperbolical l panegyrist 
of Cromwell, in 1659, describing his bounty to all 
(i the virtuous professors of poetry" selects as an 
instance, " one for all," not Milton, but Waller. 
Waller indeed had newly bestowed the labour of 
melodious panegyrick upon the death of the Usurper. 
And with Waller's character as a poet the following 
eulogium of this panegyrist in prose has intermixed, 
what rarely has been observed, a taste for poetry in 
the gloomy and fanatick patron ; which is a curiosity 
worth citing. " m What obliging favours has he 
(Cromwell) cast upon our English Virgil here, I 
mean Mr. Edm. Waller ; and merely for that, (his 
poetry,) and his other virtues ; having, in some other 
relations, little capacity enough to deserve them ! 

offered him great preferments to come over to them." Aubrey. 
The collections for the Life of Milton by Aubrey, which are pre- 
served in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, are often cited in 
Mr. Warton's edition of Milton's Smaller Poems; and are 
printed entire in the Letters of eminent persons, &c. 1813, and 
Mr. Godwin's Lives of Edw. and J. Phillips, 1815. 

1 H. Dawbeny, who published " Historie and Policie reviewed 
in the heroick transactions of Oliver, late Lord Protector, &c. 
declaring his steps to princely perfection, as they are drawn in 
lively parallels to the ascents of the great patriarch Moses, in 
thirty degrees to the height of honour. Lond. 1659." 

m Dawbeny's Hist. p. 207. 



178 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

My lord has sufficiently showed his own most 
excellent judgement in poetry, by his approbation 
and election of him, to be the object of his great 
goodness, who is clearly one of the ablest and most 
flourishing wits that ever handled a pen; and he 
does it with that natural dexterity, and promptness, 
as if he had begun to write so soon as to live : And 
whoever considers the worth of his writings, cannot 
but wonder how so many graces and beauties, which 
others labour for and never attain to, encrease in him 
as in a soil natural for wit and eloquence. If he 
goes about to translate any thing, the dead authors 
themselves are ready to rise out of their graves, and 
request him to exchange his Englished copies for 
their originals. In all his own things his concep- 
tions are unimitable, his language so sweet and po- 
lite that no ice can be smoother. His sentences are 
always full of weight, his arguments of force ; and 
his words glide along like a river, and bear perpe- 
tually in them some flashes of lightning at the end 
of each period. He perfectly knows how to vary his 
eloquence upon all occasions ; to be facetious in 
pleasing arguments, grave in severe, polite in labori- 
ous ; and, when the subject requires fervour and in- 
vective, his mouth can speak tempests. In short, 
he is the wonder of wits, the pattern of poets, the 
mirrour of orators in our age. All this I say of him, 
not so much out of design to applaud him, as to 
adore the judgement of our great Augustus, 
(Cromwell,) who always chose him out and crowned 
him for the Virgil of this nation? — Milton had 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



179 



not yet attained the higher distinction of the Homer 
of his country ; yet he had strung his lyre to the 
celebration of Cromwell ; and his English and Latin 
poems, which were published in 1645, had received 
(e u the highest commendations and applause of the 
most learned academicks, both domestick and fo- 
reign ;" and with " ° Mr. Waller's late choice 
pieces these ever-green and not to be blasted laurels" 
had been named. So that Milton perhaps might 
read the praise of his contemporary not without some 
wonder, that to such mention of his " p chief of men," 
and of (e the virtuous professors of poetry," his own 
name was not joined. 

From his entrance into office to nearly the pre- 
sent period, Milton had collected a variety of State- 
Papers ; probably with a view to use them in some 
particular or general history of the times. They 
were unpublished till the year 1743, in which they 
appeared with the title of " Original Letters and 
Papers of State, addressed to Oliver Cromwell, con- 
cerning the Affairs of Great Britain, from the year 
1649 to 1658. Found among the Political Collec- 
tions of Mr. John Milton. Now first published from 
the Originals by John Nickolls, Jun. Member of the 
Society of Antiquaries, London." By Milton they 
had been long preserved, and at length came into 

n Moseley's Pref. to Milton's Poems, ed. 1645. 
» Ibid. 

p So Milton calls Cromwell in the Sonnet be addressed to 
him. 

n 2 



180 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the possession of his friend, Thomas q Ellwood. The 
volume abounds with whining addresses to Crom- 
well and other supporters of the Usurpation, not 
without occasional deviations into the very r travesty 
as it were of sober sadness. Two letters in it, writ- 
ten by Milton's friend, Colonel Overton ; and a cha- 
racter drawn' by Captain Bishope of Bradshawe, 
harmonizing with Milton's own eloquent eulogy of 
the regicide ; may claim the distinction of important 
contents. But the State-Letters which, within this 
period and before it, Milton had written in the name 
of the Parliament, and of Oliver and Richard Crom- 
well, are interesting throughout. These he caused 
to be transcribed at the request of the Danish resi- 
dent. But they were not permitted to be published 
till after his death in 1676 ; and then they were 
given not accurately. For of these a transcript has 
been lately s discovered in the same press, which con- 
tained the Body of Divinity already mentioned; and 

q Pref. to the Collection, p. iv. 

r As in p. 161, where Colonel R. Overton is thus addressed : 
" Sir, your friends beseech you to be much in the mount with 
God, who is the best counseler, and will ther be seen : This is no 
time to consult with flesh and blood :*' and then follows, " Sir, 
there is one Miss Dawson presents her service to you. To-mor- 
row is kept a very solom day among som here, fasting and 
praiers ; sum devills are no other way cast out !" In p. 99, it is 
proposed to the Parliament, " that the stone churches should 
have noe outward adornements, but the walls to be coullered 
black, to putt men in minde of that blacknesse and darknesse 
that is within them /" 

s See Dr. Sumner's Introduction to his Translation of Milton's 
De Doctrind Christian6, p. xvii. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 181 

the text appears to differ, in many instances, from 
that of our present editions. From a printed Latin 
advertisement, * found in the same parcel, it has 
been justly presumed, that the collection had been 
carefully revised by the author or his friends in order 
to publication, and intended to have been committed 
to the press in Holland. The letters are stated in 
this advertisement to have been published by a dis- 
honest bookseller, from a surreptitious copy, in their 
incorrect shape. In 1690 they were announced to 
the publick at Leipsic and Frankfort with a preface 
by the celebrated J. G. u Pritius, or Pritz ; and a 
dedication to F. B. Carpzovius. That they had not 
been suffered to issue from the press while Milton 
was living, this learned editor apparently x laments ; 
and that they exhibit all the y graces of composition, 

* See Dr. Sumner's Introduction to his Translation of Milton's 
De Doctrind Christiana, p. xvii. 

u Pritius was professor of divinity at Leipsic, and distinguished 
himself greatly as a theological critick. He proposed also to re- 
print the Familiar Letters and Prolusions of Milton. The pre- 
sent publication he entitled " Literse nomine Senatus Anglicani, 
&c. exaratae a Joanne Miltono, quas nunc primum in Germanid 
recudi fecit M. Jo. Georg. Pritius." 12mo. 

x " Illud autem lectorem ignorare non patiemur, post mortem 
demum auctoris emissum fuisse opusculum. Quanquam enim 
cum vivente actum esset, ut ipsemet epistolas suas, quas reipub- 
licce nomine scripserat, prelo subjiceret, nee illeadeb abnueret; ab 
Mis iamen, per quos solos licebat, permissum id ei non est ; usque 
dum, post fata auctoris, claustra, quibus indigne continebantur, 
perrumperent ; non addito quidem editionis loco, quern tamen in 
Anglia quaerendum esse, characterum typus indicium facit." Pref. 

y " Puras tibi exhibemus epistolas, faciles, jucundas, et amoe- 
nissimas veneres ubique spirantes," &c. Ibid. 



182 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 



he testifies with the ablest criticks of his own and 
succeeding times. In 1694 they were translated 
into English, and published ; and to that translation 
was prefixed the Life of Milton by his nephew, Ed- 
ward Phillips ; at the end of which were added his 
Sonnets to Fairfax, Cromwell, Vane, and Cyriack 
Skinner. Of these letters in their original language, 
from the corrected manuscript, a new edition is much 
to be desired. 



SECTION IV. 



From the Restoration of King Charles the Second to the 
Death of Milton. 

Milton at the Restoration withdrew, for a time, to 
a friend's house in Bartholomew-Close. By this 
precaution he probably escaped the particular pro- 
secution which was at first directed against him. 
Mr. Warton was a told by Mr. Tyers from good 
authority, that when Milton was under prosecution 
with Goodwin, his friends, to gain time, made a 
mock-funeral for him ; and that when matters were 
settled in his favour, and the affair was known, the 
King laughed heartily at the trick. This circum- 
stance has been also related by an historian b lately 
brought to light ; who says that Milton " pretended 
to be dead, and had a publick funeral procession," 
and that " the King applauded his policy in escaping 
the punishment of death, by a seasonable shew of 
dying." His Iconoclastes and Defensio pro Populo 
Anglic ano were, however, consigned to the most 

. a See his Second Edition of Milton's Smaller Poems, p. 358. 
b Cunningham's Hist, of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 14. 



184 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



publick disgrace. It was the resolution of the Com- 
mons, on the 16th of June 1660, that his Majesty 
should be " c humbly moved to call in Milton's two 
books, and that of John Goodwin, [The Obstructors 
of Justice,*} written in justification of the murder of 
the late King, and order them to be burnt by the 
common hangman; and that the Attorney-General 
do proceed against them by indictment or otherwise." 

Dr. Johnson thinks that Milton was not very dili- 
gently pursued. It is certain that he very success- 
fully concealed himself. The proclamation for ap- 
prehending him, and his bold compeer, particularly 
notices that " d the said John Milton and John 
Goodwin are so fled, or so obscure themselves, that 
no endeavours used for their apprehension can take 
effect, whereby they may be brought to legal tryal, 
and deservedly receive condign punishment for their 
treasons and offences." Of the proscribed books 
several copies were committed to the flames on the 
27th of August. Within three days after the burn- 
ing these offensive publications, he found himself 
relieved, by the Act of Indemnity, from the neces- 
sity of concealment. Goodwin was incapacitated, as 
Dr. Johnson observes, with nineteen more, for any 
publick trust ; but of Milton there was no exception. 
He was afterwards, however, in the custody of the 
Serjeant at arms ; for on Saturday the 15th of De- 

c Journals of the House of Commons. 

d See the Proclamation printed at length in Rennet's Register 
and Chronicle, 1728, p. 189. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 185 

cember, 1660, it was ordered, by the House of Com- 
mons, " e that Mr. Milton, now in custody of the 
Serjeant at arms, attending this House, be forth- 
with released, paying Ms fees' 9 And, on Monday 
the 17th, "a complaint being made that the Serjeant 
at arms had demanded excessive fees for the impri- 
sonment of Mr. Milton ; it was ordered, that it be 
referred to the Committee for Privileges to examine 
this business, and to call Mr. Mead the Serjeant be- 
fore them, and to determine what is fit to be given 
to the Serjeant for his fees in this case." Milton is 
supposed to have had powerful friends both in Coun- 
cil and Parliament ; as Secretary Morice, Sir Thomas 
Clarges, and Andrew Marvell. But the principal in- 
strument in obtaining Milton's pardon is said to have 
been Sir William Davenant, who, when he was taken 
prisoner in 1650, had been saved by Milton's inte- 
rest, and who now, in grateful return for so signal 
an obligation, interceded for the life of Milton./ This 
story has been related by Richardson upon the au- 
thority of Pope, who received it from Betterton, of 
whom Davenant was the patron. Aubrey, in his 
manuscript f life of Davenant, ascribes his safety, 
however, without mention of Milton, to two alder- 
men of York. 

Milton, having obtained his pardon, reappeared 
immediately in his literary character ; and published 

* Journals of the House of Commons. 

f See the Hist. Account of the English Stage, Steevens's 
Shakspeare, ed. 1793, vol. ii. p. 431. 



186 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

in 1661 his Accidence 'commenced Grammar. He had 
now taken a house in Holborn near Red-Lion Fields ; 
but soon removed to Jewin Street, near Aldersgate. 
And there he married his third wife, in " the year 
before the sickness," Aubrey says, which would be in 
1664. She was Elizabeth Minshul, of a genteel family 
in Cheshire. Her father, Sir Edward Minshul, g re- 
ceived the honour of knighthood. She was also a 
relation of Dr. Paget, his particular friend, whom he 
had requested to recommend a proper consort for 
him. It may here be observed, that he chose his 
three wives out of the virgin state. Indeed he tells 
us that he entirely agreed " h with them who, both 
in prudence and elegance of spirit, would choose a 
virgin of mean fortunes, honestly bred, before the 
wealthiest widow." The very reverse was the fancy 
of another poet, of no mean fame, Sheffield, duke of 
Buckinghamshire ; who, like Milton, was thrice mar- 
ried, but whose three wives had been all widows ! 
Soon after Milton's last marriage, he is l said to have 
been offered, and to have declined, the employment 
again of Latin Secretary. 

While he lived in Jewin Street too, Ellwood the 
quaker was recommended to him as a person, who, 
for the advantage of his conversation, would read to 
him such Latin books as he thought proper ; anem- 

g Communicated to me by the learned historian of Cheshire, 
Mr. Ormerod. 
. h Prose- Works, vol. i. p. 191, ed. 1698. . 

1 See the note f on the Nuncupative Will of Milton. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 187 

ployment to which he attended every afternoon, ex- 
cept on Sundays. "-At my first sitting to him/' this 
ingenuous k writer informs us in his Life of himself, 
" observing that I used the English pronunciation, 
he told me,. if I would have the benefit of the Latin 
tongue, not only to read and understand Latin au- 
thors, but to converse with foreigners, either abroad 
or at home, I must learn the foreign pronunciation ; 
to this I consenting, he instructed me how to sound 
the vowels : This change of pronunciation proved a 
new difficulty to me ; but ' labor omnia vincit im- 
probus ;' and so did I ; which made my reading the 
more acceptable to my master. He, on the other 
hand, perceiving with what earnest desire I pursued 
learning, gave me not only all the encouragement, 
but all the help, he could ; for, having a curious 
ear, he understood by my tone when I understood 



k " The early life of Ellwood," Mr. Warton has remarked, 
" exhibits exactly the progress of an enthusiast. Having been a 
profligate youth, and often whipped at school twice a day, he 
was suddenly reclaimed by accidentally hearing a Quakers 
sermon. He then had the felicity of following the steps of St. 
Paul, in suffering bonds and imprisonment. But those slight 
evils did not reach the spiritual man. He found the horrours 
of a jail to be green and flowery pastures, refreshed with the foun- 
tain of grace. He consoled himself as Shakspeare says, with ' a 
snufT in a dungeon/ The history of his desultory life, written by 
himself, and from which I collect these anecdotes, is filled with 
idle rambles and adventures, foolish scraps of poetry, and fana- 
tical opinions. s I except those passages which relate to Milton, 
as also the best and most curious part of the description of Bride- 
well and Newgate, then the usual receptacles of preaching ap- 
prentices, and frequently more full of saints than felons." 



188 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

what I read, and when I did not ; and accordingly 
he would stop me, and examine me, and open the 
most difficult passages to me." The kind care be- 
stowed by Milton upon the improvement of this 
young man was repaid by every mark of personal 
regard. The courtesy of the preceptor, and the 
gratitude of the disciple, are indeed alike conspi- 
cuous. After several adventures, which were no 
slight trials of patience, Ellwood found an asylum 
in the house of an affluent quaker at Chalfont in 
Buckinghamshire, whose children he was to instruct. 
This situation afforded him an opportunity of being 
serviceable to Milton. For, when the plague began 
to rage in London in 1665, Ellwood took a house 
for him at l Chalfont St. Giles ; to which the poet 

1 Dr. Birch, in his Life of Milton, has printed a Sonnet, said 
to be written by Milton in 1665, when he retired to Chalfont in 
Buckinghamshire on account of the plague ; and to have been 
seen inscribed on the glass of a window in that place. I have 
seen a copy of it written, apparently in a coeval hand, at the 
end of Tonson's edition of Milton's Smaller Poems in 1713, 
where it is also said to be Milton's. It is reprinted, from Dr. 
Birch's Life of the poet, in Fawkes and Woty's Poetical Calendar, 
1763, vol. viii. p. 67. But, in this Sonnet there is a scriptural 
mistake ; which, as Mr. Warton has observed, Milton was not 
likely to commit. For the Sonnet improperly represents David 
as punished by pestilence for his adultery with Bathsheba. Mr. 
Warton, however, adds, that Dr. Birch had been informed by 
Vertue the engraver, that he had seen a satirical medal, struck 
upon Charles the second, abroad, without any legend, having a 
correspondent device. 

" Fair mirror of foul times ! whose fragile sheen 
" Shall, as it blazeth, break ; while Providence 
" Aye watching o'er his saints with eye unseen, 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 189 

retired with his family. He had not long before re- 
moved from Jewin Street to a house in Artillery 
Walk, leading to Bunhill-flelds ; but he is also said, 
by Richardson, on the authority of a person who was 
acquainted with Milton, and who had often met him 
with his host conducting him, to have lodged awhile 
before this last removal with Millington, the famous 
auctioneer of books ; a man, whose occupation and 
whose talents would render his company very ac- 
ceptable to Milton ; for he has been described by a 
m contemporary pen, as " a man of remarkable elo- 
cution, wit, sense, and modesty." 

On his arrival at Chalfont, Milton found that 
Ellwood, in consequence of a persecution of the 
quakers, was confined in the gaol of Aylesbury. 
But, being soon released, this affectionate friend 
made a visit to him, to welcome him into the coun- 
try. " After some common discourses," says Ellwood, 
" had passed between us, he called for a manuscript 
of his, which, being brought, he delivered to me, 

" Spreads the red rod of angry pestilence, 

" To sweep the wicked and their counsels hence ; 

" Yea, all to break the pride of lustfull kings, 
" Who heaven's lore reject for brutish sense ; 
" As erst he scourg'd Jessides' sin of yore, 
" For the fair Hittite, when, on seraph's wings, 
" He sent him war, or plague, or famine sore." 

m Dunton's Life and Errors, &c. See also the Audio Davi- 
siana in the Musae Anglicanse : 

" Tu Milling toni non dedignabere partes, 

" Nam lepidum caput es, dicto et mordente facetus." 



190 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

bidding me take it home with me, and read it at my 
leisure, and when I had so done, return it to him 
with my judgement thereupon. When I came home, 
and set myself to read it, I found it was that excel- 
lent poem, which he entitled Paradise Lost" From 
this account it appears that Paradise Lost was com- 
plete in 1665. And indeed Aubrey represents the 
poem as "finished about three yeares after the 
King's Restoration" 

The city being cleansed, and the danger of infec- 
tion having ceased, Milton returned to Bunhill-fields, 
and designed the publication of his great poem ; the 
first hint of which he is n said to have taken, more 
than twenty years before, from an Italian tragedy. 
Some biographers have supposed that he began to 
mould the Paradise Lost into an epick form, soon 
after he was disengaged from the controversy with 
Salmasius. Aubrey, I have before said, relates, that 
he began the work about two years before the Re- 
storation. However, considering the difficulties, as 
bishop Newton well remarks, " under which the au- 
thor lay, his uneasiness on account of the publick 
affairs and his own, his age and infirmities, his not 
being now in circumstances to maintain an amanu- 
ensis, but obliged to make use of any hand that 
came next to write his verses as he made them, it is 
really wonderful that he should have the spirit to 



n See the Inquiry into the Origin of Paradise Lost in the pre- 
sent volume. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 191 

undertake such a work, and much more that he 
should ever bring it to perfection." Yet his tuneful 
voice was 

« unchanged 

" To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days, 
"On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues ; 
" In darkness, and with dangers compass'd round, 
H And solitude." 

To Milton indeed the days might now seem evil. 
But to so pathetick a complaint cold must be the 
heart of him who can listen without compassion. It 
reminds us of the musical but melancholy strains, 
addressed by his favourite Tasso in a Sonnet to Stig- 
lian, whom he salutes as advancing on the road to 
Helicon : 

" Ivi prende mia cetra ad un cipresso : 
" Salutala in mio nome, e dalle avviso, 
V Cti io son da gli anni e dafortuna oppresso" 

The last of Milton's familiar Letters in Latin, ad- 
dressed to Peter Heimbach, an accomplished German, 
who is styled counsellor to the elector of Bran den- 
burgh, (and who is supposed, by an expression in a 
former epistle from Milton to him, to have resided 
with the poet, when he visited England, in the cha- 
racter of a disciple,) relates his consideration on his 
present circumstances, and his reflection on the days 
that were gone, in a most interesting manner. With 
the translation of this letter by his affectionate and 
spirited biographer, Mr. Hayley, the reader will be 



192 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

gratified. " If among so many ° funerals of my 
countrymen, in a year so full of pestilence and sor- 
row, you were induced, as you say, by rumour to 
believe that I also was snatched away, it is not sur- 
prising ; and if such'a rumour prevailed among those 
of your nation, as it seems to have done, because they 
were solicitous for my health, it is not unpleasing, 
for I must esteem it as a proof of their benevolence 
towards me. But by the graciousness of God, who 
had prepared for me a safe retreat in the country, I 
am still alive and well ; and I trust not utterly an 
unprofitable servant, whatever duty in life there yet 
remains for me to fulfil. That you remember me, 
after so long an interval in our correspondence, gra- 
tifies me exceedingly, though, by the politeness of 
your expression, you seem to afford me room to sus- 
pect, that you have rather forgotten me, since, as 
you say, you admire in me so many different virtues 
wedded together. From so many weddings I should 
assuredly dread a family too numerous, were it not 
certain that, in narrow circumstances and under se- 
verity of fortune, virtues are most excellently reared, 
and are most flourishing. Yet one of these said vir- 
tues has not very handsomely rewarded me for en- 
tertaining her ; for that which you call my political 

° Even at Chalfont, whither he had retired from the danger of 
infection, infection had appeared. For in the Register of the 
parish, under the year 1665, two persons are recorded, as I was 
obligingly informed by letter from the resident clergyman, to have 
died of the sickness ; [so the Plague was denominated ;] one of 
whom is called a stranger, and died at the Manor House, 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 193 

virtue, and which I should rather wish you to call 
my devotion to my country, (enchanting me with 
her captivating name,) almost, if I may say so, expa- 
triated me. Other virtues, however, join their voices 
to assure me, that wherever we prosper in rectitude 
there is our country. In ending my letter, let me 
obtain from you this favour, that if you find any 
parts of it incorrectly written, and without stops, you 
will impute it to the boy who writes for me, who is 
utterly ignorant of Latin, and to whom I am forced 
(wretchedly enough) to repeat every single syllable 
that I dictate. I still rejoice that your merit as an 
accomplished man, whom I knew as a youth of the 
highest expectation, has advanced you so far in the 
honourable favour of your prince. For your pros- 
perity in every other point you have both my wishes 
and my hopes. Farewell. London, August 15, 1666." 

Paradise Lost, having been made ready for pub- 
lication, is said to have been in danger of being sup- 
pressed by the licenser, who imagined that, in the 
noble p simile of the sun in an eclipse, he had dis- 
covered treason. The licenser's hesitation is a striking 
example of Lord Lyttleton's acute remark, that u q the 
politicks of Milton at that time brought his poetry 
into disgrace ; for it is a rule with the English ; they 
see no good in a man whose politicks they dislike" 
r Licensed, however, the poem was ; and Milton sold 

» B. i. 594, &c. 

' l Dialogues of the Dead. Dial. xiv. 

r Mr. Malone observes, that the poem was entered in the Sta- 

o 



194 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

his copy, April 27, 1667, to Samuel Simmons, for 
an immediate payment of five pounds. But the 
agreement with the bookseller entitled him to a con- 
ditional payment of five pounds more when thirteen 
hundred copies should be sold of the first edition ; of 
the like sum after the same number of the second 
edition ; and of another five pounds after the same 
sale of the third. The number of each edition was 
not to exceed fifteen hundred copies. It first ap- 
peared in 1667, in ten books. In the history of 
Paradise Lost, Dr. Johnson has observed that a re- 
lation of minute circumstances will rather gratify 
than fatigue. Countenanced by such authority, I 
proceed to state that the poem, in a small quarto 
form, and plainly but neatly bound, was advertised 
at the price of s three shillings. The titles were 
varied, in order to circulate the edition, in 1667, 

1668, and 1669. Of these there were no less than 
jive. In two years the sale gave the poet a right 

to his second payment, for which the * receipt was 
signed April 26, 1669. The second edition was not 
given till 1674 ; it was printed in small octavo ; and, 

tioners' Book by Samuel Symons, Aug. 20, 1669. See the Life 
of Dryden, 1800, vol. i. part i. p. 114. The title-pages of 1667 
and 1668, however, bear in front " Licensed and Entered accord- 
ing to Order" I have seen several copies with the title-page of 

1669, in which this notification is omitted. 

s In Clavel's Catalogue of all the books printed in England, 
since the fire of London, in 1666, to the end of 1672. Fol. 
Lond. 1673. 

e A fac-simile of this receipt is given in the Gent. Mag. July, 
1822, p. 13. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 195 

by a judicious division of the seventh and tenth, con- 
tained twelve books. He lived not to receive the 
payment stipulated for this impression. The third 
edition was published in 1678 ; and his widow, to 
whom the copy was then to devolve, agreed with 
Simmons, the printer, to receive eight pounds for 
her right, according to her u receipt dated December 
21, 1680 ; and gave him a general release, dated 
April 29, 1681. Simmons covenanted to transfer the 
right, for twenty-five pounds, to Brabazon Aylmer, 
a bookseller; and Aylmer sold to Jacob Tonson 
half of it, August 17, 1683, and the other half, 
March 24, 1690, at a price considerably advanced. 

Of the first edition it has been observed by Dr. 
Johnson, that " the call for books was not in Milton's 
age what it is at present ; — the nation had been satis- 
fied from 1623 to 1664, that is, forty-one years, with 
only two editions of the works of Shakspeare, which 
probably did not together make one thousand copies. 
The sale of thirteen hundred copies in two years, in 
opposition to so much recent enmity, and to a style 
of versification new to all and disgusting to many, was 
an uncommon example of the prevalence of genius." 
This remark will always be read with peculiar grati- 
fication, as it exonerates our forefathers from the 
charge of being inattentive to the glorious blaze of a 
luminary, before which so many stars " dim their 

u Of this receipt also a fac-simile accompanies the preceding. 
And in p. 1 4, the general release of Mrs. Milton to Simmons is 
copied. 

o 2 



196 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

ineffectual light." The demand, as Dr. Johnson 
notices, did not immediately encrease ; because 
" many more readers than were supplied at first, the 
nation did not afford. Only three thousand were 
sold in eleven years ; for it forced its way without 
assistance ; its admirers did not dare to publish their 
opinion ; and the opportunities, now given, of at- 
tracting notice by advertisements were then very few. 
But the reputation and price of the copy still ad- 
vanced, till the Revolution put an end to the secrecy 
of love, and Paradise Lost broke into open view 
with sufficient security of kind reception. Fancy can 
hardly forbear to conjecture with what temper Milton 
surveyed the silent progress of his work, and marked 
its reputation stealing its way in a kind of subterra- 
neous current through fear and silence. I cannot 
but conceive him calm and confident, little disap- 
pointed, not at all dejected, relying on his own merit 
with steady consciousness, and waiting, without im- 
patience, the vicissitudes of opinion and the impar- 
tiality of a future generation." 

Milton indeed may be considered as an illustrious 
example of patient merit. But his admirers were 
not long silent. Witness the spirited verses of Barrow 
and Marvell, prefixed to the second edition of the 
poem: Witness also the x celebrated hexastich of 



* " Three Poets in three distant ages born," &c. If any other 
proof were wanting, Dr. Jos, Warton has said, of the high respect 
and veneration which Dryden entertained of the superiour genius 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 197 

Dryden, which accompanies the fourth edition; as 
well as the liberal acknowledgement of his obliga- 
tions to Paradise Lost, made almost immediately 
after the death of Milton, in the preface to his State 
of Innocence : " I cannot, without injury to the de- 
ceased author of Paradise Lost, but acknowledge, 
that this poem has received its entire foundation, 
part of the design, and many of the ornaments from 
him. What I have borrowed will be so easily dis- 
cerned from my mean productions, that I shall not 
need to point the reader to the places ; and truly I 
should be sorry, for my own sake, that any one should 
take the pains to compare them together, the ori- 
ginal being undoubtedly one of the greatest, most 
noble, and most sublime poems, which either this 
age or nation has produced? So that, at least by 
one excellent judge of poetry, the Paradise Lost 
was immediately and duly appreciated ; and the 
popularity of it, which has unjustly been supposed to 
be very confined till the appearance of Addison's 
criticism, had begun, many years before, to spread, 
and to elicit the commendations of various writers. 
It matters not, that among these dispensers of honest 
praise some were obscure persons ; it proves, that the 
poem was generally read, and that the readers were 
deeply sensible of its excellence. The gradual pro- 
gress of its fame, may, in part, be distinguished by 
the following notices ; not to forget the circumstance 



of Milton, these six nervous lines will for ever remain as a strong 
and indisputable testimony. 



198 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

also of thirteen hundred copies of it having been sold 
within two years after its appearance. 

An examination of the blank verse, and a proper 
tribute to the sweetness of language, in Paradise 
Lost, are found in Dr. Woodford's poetical Para- 
phrase upon the Canticles, published in 1679. 

In the same year also, rather a curious commen- 
dation presents itself in the preface to " Poems in 
two parts ; first, an interlocutory discourse concern- 
ing the Creation, Fall, and Recovery of Man ; se- 
condly, a dialogue between Faith and a Doubting 
Soul, by Samuel Slater ;" who seems to have thought 
Milton, with some animadversion of his correcter pen, 
not unworthy his imitation ! " I was much taken," he 
says, u with learned Mr. Milton's cast and fancy 
in his booh, (Paradise Lost :) Him I have followed 
much in his method, and have been otherwise be- 
holding to him, how much I leave thee (gentle 
reader) to judge: but I have used a more plain and 
familiar stile, because I conceive it most proper!" 
The compositions of this self-complacent writer, the 
children of preposterous conceit, would have been a 
valuable addition to the common-place book of 
Bayes, who also " loved to write familiarly" 

In his Essay on Translated Verse, published in 
1680, lord Roscommon, as Addison has remarked, 
selects the sixth book of the poem as a specimen of 
true sublimity; and from the imagery and Ian- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 199 

guage of Milton the criticism derives additional 
strength. 

In the same year was published a poetical transla- 
tion of Jacob Catsius's Self -Conflict, the anonymous 
translator of which observes in the preface, " that it 
were a pity gold should be rejected, because pre- 
sented unto thee in a homely vessel ; or sovereign 
counsel, because not sung to thee by a Cowley or a 
Milton ; the very footsteps of either of which thou 
art not likely here to find." Yet, notwithstanding 
this modest depreciation of his labour, the translator 
has employed with good effect many Miltonick ex- 
pressions. 

To the fame of Milton, in this year also, a poe- 
tical tribute was paid by a writer, whose signature 
to it is F. C. I suppose, that Francis Cradock, a 
member of the Rota-Club to which Milton belonged, 
is the author thus initially subscribed. 

" y O Thou, the wonder of the present age, 

" An age immers'd in luxury and vice ; 

" A race of triflers ; who can relish nought, 

fi But the gay issue of an idle brain : 

" How coukTst thou hope to please this tinsel race ! 

" Though blind, yet, with the penetrating eye 

" Of intellectual light, thou dost survey 

* The labyrinth perplex'd of Heaven's decrees ; 

y These verses are prefixed to Milton's poetical works in the 
Edition of the English Poets, 1779 ; and had before appeared 
in Fawkes and Woty's Poetical Calender, 1763. 



200 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" And with a quill, pluck'd from an Angel's wing, 
" Dipt in the fount that laves the eternal throne, 
" Trace the dark paths of Providence Divine, 
" And justify the ways of God to man. 

" F. C. 1680." 

Sheffield, duke of Buckinghamshire, in his Essay 
on Poetry, first published in 1682, introduces Mil- 
ton with " Tasso and Spenser," Dr. Johnson has re- 
lated, " set before him ;*' but in succeeding editions 
" Milton is advanced to the highest place, and the 
passage thus adjusted : The epick poet, says the 
noble author, 

" Must above Tasso's lofty flights prevail, 

" Succeed where Spenser, and e'en Milton, fail." 

In 1683 Milton is the admired theme of an un- 
known author, who, in his work entitled The Situ- 
ation of Paradise found out, cites with taste and 
judgement several passages from the fourth book of 
Paradise Lost ; and, by the application of a remark 
in Athanasius, strengthens a belief that Milton, in 
his description of Paradise, consulted the Fathers. 
" As to the easterly situation of this garden," says 
the author, p. 23, " S. Athanasius has a fancy there- 
upon extraordinary poetical, and which I take to be 
more expressive of its riches, and its pleasures, than 
those descriptions the most fanciful poets can give of 
their Elysium ; viz. That from hence about the Ori- 
ental parts of India there are every where such fra- 
grant scents, and that the spices receive their odours, 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 201 

as if blown from that happy place : Which is good 
poetry enough, though too light for him : And Mil- 
ton has it, 



« N ow gentle gales, 

" Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense 

" Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole 

" Those balmy spoils." 



In 1688 the opinion and encouragement of lord 
Somers occasioned the handsome folio edition of Pa- 
radise Lost, which then was published ; to which 
is prefixed a list of more than five hundred sub- 
scribers, among whom are the most distinguished 
characters of the time. Atterbury exerted him- 
self with zealous activity in the promotion of this 
honourable publication. And Dryden added to 
his subscription, under the portrait of Milton 
which accompanies the edition, his epigram before- 
noticed. 

In the same year appeared Poems to the Memory 
of Edmond Waller, Esq. Bij several hands ; in 
which Milton obtains, from an anonymous writer, 
this commendation by comparison : 

" Now, in soft notes, like dying swans, he'd sing, 

<e Now tower aloft, like eagles on the wing ; 

" Speak of adventurous deeds in such a strain, 

" As all but Milton would attempt in vain ; 

" And only there, where his rapt Muse does tell 

" How in the astherial war the Apostate Angels fell." 



202 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

In 1689 appeared " z A propitiatory sacrifice to 
the ghost of J. M. by way of Pastoral, in a dialogue 
between Thyrsis and Corydon; addressed by the 
author to his brother Mr. A. Wyndham." The poem 
seems to have been written soon after the death of 
Milton. It is of considerable length, and of very 
unequal execution. There are passages in it, how- 
ever, with which the reader of taste and feeling may 
be pleased ; as with the following, where the author, 
having described the poetical abilities of Milton " from 
his cradle to his tomb," thus represents the blind 
bard in 

" his age and fruit together ripe, 

"Of which blind Homer only was the type : 

" Tiresias like, he mounted up on high, 

" And scom'd the filth of dull mortality ; 

" Convers'd with gods, and grac'd their royal line, 

" All ecstasie, all rapture, all divine !" 

Again, deploring his loss, the poet ably notices Mil- 
ton's rejection of rhyme ; and calls the object of his 
grief, 

" Daphnis, the great reformer of our isle ! 
" Daphnis, the patron of the Roman stile ! 

2 The book, in which this poem occurs, is little known ; and 
was obligingly pointed out to me by the ingenious and acute 
continuator of Jonson's Sad Shepherd, the late Mr. F. G. Wal- 
dron. It is entitled, " Poems and Translations written upon 
several occasions, and to several persons. By a late Scholar 
of Eton. London, 1689." The poem will be found in p. 110, 
&c. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON, 203 

" Who first to sense converted doggrel rhimes, 

" The Muses' bells took off, and stopt their chimes ; 

" On surer wings, with an immortal flight, 

" Taught us how to believe, and how to write !" 

Towards the conclusion, is this spirited prediction of 
Milton's increasing glory : 

" Even tombs of stone in time will wear away ; 

" Brass pyramids are subject to decay ; 

" But lo ! the poet's fame shall brighter shine 

" In each succeeding age, 

" Laughing at the baffled rage 
" Of envious enemies and destructive time." 



In 1690 Atterbury wrote the preface to the Se- 
cond Part of Waller's Poems, and therein com- 
mends what Milton had achieved in " freeing us from 
the troublesome bondage of rhyming." 

Wollaston, the author of the Religion of Nature 
delineated, printed in 1691 a poem, which afterwards 
he endeavoured to suppress, entitled The Design of 
Part of the Booh of Ecclesiastes ; and in the pre- 
face to it he concurs with Atterbury as to Milton's 
rejection of rhyme. 

In 1692 another ornamented edition of Paradise 
Lost, in folio, was published. 

And in 1695 a third, with the copious and very 
learned commentary of Patrick Hume. 



204 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

The poem had been also, in the preceding year, 
highly commended by Charles Gildon in his " Mis- 
cellaneous Letters and Essays ;" and had been trans- 
lated into Latin in 1685, and into Dutch in 1682. 
So much for the popularity, which has been ques- 
tioned, of Paradise Lost in the seventeenth century ; 
yes, and before " a the Revolution had put an end to 
the secrecy of love," which till then, it has been 
said, attended it. 

Of the anecdote, related by Richardson, respect- 
ing the celebrity which the poem has been supposed 
to owe to Denham, the accurate investigation of Mr. 
Malone has detected the improbability. " b The 
elder Richardson," says this acute and learned writer, 
" speaking of the tardy reputation of Paradise Lost, 
tells us, (and the tale has been repeated in various 
Lives of Milton,) that he was informed by Sir George 
Hungerford, an ancient member of parliament, (many 
years previous to 1734,) that Sir John Denham came 
into the House one morning with a sheet of Para- 
dise Lost, wet from the press, in his hand ; and, being- 
asked what it was, he replied, e Part of the noblest 
poem that ever was written in anij language or 
in anij age' However, the book remained unknown 
till it was produced about two years afterwards by 
Lord Buckhurst on the following occasion. That 
nobleman, in company with Mr. Fleetwood Shep- 

a Dr. Johnson's Life of Milton. 

b Life of Dryden, 1800, vol. i. part i. p. 1 12, &c. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 205 

hard, (who frequently told the story to Dr. Tancred 
Robinson, an eminent physician, and Mr. Richard- 
son's informer,) looking over some books in Little 
Britain, met with Paradise Lost ; and, being sur- 
prised with some passages in turning it over, bought 
it. The bookseller requested his Lordship to speak 
in its favour, if he liked it : for the impression lay 
on his hands as waste paper. Lord Buckhurst, 
(whom Richardson inaccurately calls the Earl of 
Dorset, for he did not succeed to that title till some 
years afterwards,) having read the poem, sent it to 
Dryden, who in a short time returned it with this 
answer : ' This man cuts us all out, and the an- 
cients tooJ — Much the same character (adds Mr. 
Richardson) he gave of it to a north-country gentle- 
man, to whom I mentioned the book, he being a 
great reader, but not in a right train, coming to 
town seldom, and keeping little company. Dryden 
amazed him with speaking loftily of it. ( Why, Mr. 
Dryden/ says he, ( (Sir W. L. told me the thing 
himself,) 'tis not in rhyme.' ( No ; (replied Dryden,) 
nor would I have done my Virgil in rhyme, if I 
was to begin it again,' — How Sir John Denham 
should get into his hands one of the sheets of Para- 
dise Lost, while it was working off at the press, it 
is not very easy to conceive. The proof-sheets of 
every book, as well as the finished sheets when 
worked off, previous to publication, are subject to 
the inspection of no person but the author, or the 
persons to whom he may confide them ; and there is 
no evidence or probability that any intimacy sub- 



206 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

sisted between Sir John Denham and Milton. Here 
then is the first difficulty. The next is, that during 
a great part of the year 1667, when Milton's poem 
probably was passing through the press, the knight 
was disordered in his understanding : But a stronger 
objection remains behind ; for, on examination, it 
will be found that Denham, who is said to have thus 
blazoned Paradise Lost in the House of Commons, 
was never in parliament. Let us, however, wave 
this objection, and suppose this eulogy to have been 
pronounced in a full House of Commons in 1667, in 
which year Milton's great poem, according to some 
of the title-pages, first appeared, whilst others have 
the dates of 1668 and 1669. So little effect had 
Denham's commendation, that we find in two years 
afterwards almost the whole impression lying on 
the bookseller's hands as waste paper : during which 
time Dryden, a poet himself, living among poets, 
and personally acquainted with Milton, had never 
seen it ! And to crown all, by the original contract 
between Milton and Simmons, the printer, dated 
April 27, 1667, it was stipulated, that, whenever 
thirteen hundred books were sold, he should receive 
%sq pounds, in addition to the sum originally paid 
on the sale of the copy : and this second sum of five 
pounds was paid to him, as appears from the re- 
ceipt, on the 26th of April, 1669 ; so that, in two 
years after the original publication, we find that, 
instead of almost the whole impression then lying 
on the bookseller's hands, thirteen hundred out of 
fifteen hundred copies of this poem had been dis- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON, 207 

persed. Unless, therefore, almost every species of 
incongruity and contradiction can authenticate a 
narrative, this anecdote must be rejected as wholly 
unworthy of credit." 

Before I quit the subject of the first appearance 
of Paradise Lost, I must notice a communication, 
made to the publick c not long since by a gentleman 
possessing the original edition, of the following lines ; 
apparently written by a female on two leaves pre- 
fixed to the title-page of his copy, and subscribed 
at the bottom with this singular remark : " Dictated 
by J. M." The communicator observes, that the 
daughter of Milton officiated as his amanuensis ; and 
that, from the remark already mentioned, there is 
some reason to attribute the lines to the author of 
Paradise Lost. Different female hands, it may be 
added, appear in the manuscript of Milton, pre- 
served in Trinity College, Cambridge. Yet the 
bondage of rhyme may perhaps incline some to 
question the authenticity of these lines ; while seve- 
ral striking sentiments and expressions, and the fre- 
quent flow of the verses into each other, will occa- 
sion some also to think them genuine, and that the 
great poet might have chosen, as an amusement, to 
employ once more the " jingling sound of like end- 
ings." Dr. Symmons indeed concedes, that the tes- 
timony which has been given, united with what is 
supplied by the verses themselves, will not suffer us 

c In the Gentleman's Magazine for August 1786, p. 698. 



208 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



to doubt of their being the production of Milton, 
The subject also had been a favourite theme of Mil- 
ton. 

On Day-Break. 

" Welcome, bright chorister, to our hemisphere ; 
" Thy glad approaches tell us Day is near. > 
" See ! how his early dawn creeps o'er yon hill, 
" And with his grey-ey'd light begins to fill 
" The silent air, driving far from our sight 
" The starry regiment of frighted Night ; 
" Whose pale-fac'd regent, Cynthia, paler grows, 
" To see herself pursu'd by conquering foes ; 
" Yet daring stays behind, to guard the rear 
" Of her black armies whither without fear 
<c They may retreat, till her alternate course 
" Bring her about again with rallied force. 
" Hark ! how the lion's terrour loud proclaims 
" The gladsome tidings of day's gentle beams, 
" And, long-kept silence breaking, rudely wakes 
<l The feather'd train, which soon their concert makes, 
" And with unmeasur'd notes, unnumber'd lays, 
" Do joyfully salute the lightsome rays. 
" But hearken yonder, where the louder voice 
" Of some keen hunter's horn hath once or twice 
" Recheated out its blast, which seems to drill 
" The opposing air, and with its echo fill. 
fi Thither let's hie ; and see the toilsome hound, 
" Willing, pursues his labour, till he has found 
" Some hope of what he follows, then with fresht 
i( And pleasing clamour tells it to the rest. 

" O Thou, who sometimes by most sacred voice 
" Father of Light wert styl'd, let my free choice 
" (Though all my works be evil, seldom right,) 
" Shun loving darkness rather than the light. 
" Let Thy essential brightness, with quick glance, 
" Dart through the foggy mist of ignorance 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 209 

(i Into the darken 'd intellect, and thence 

" Dispel whatever clouds o'erspread the sense ; 

" Till, with d illuminated eyes, the mind 

<( All the dark corners in itself can find, 

" And fill them all with radiant light, which may 

" Convert my gloomy night to sun-shine day. 

" Though dark, O God ! if guarded by thy might 

" I see with intellectual eyes : the night 

" To me a noon-tide blaze, illumin'd by 

" The glorious splendour of thy Majesty !" 

After the publication of Paradise Lost, Milton 
resumed his design of giving a history of his native 
country. But he proceeded only as far as the Nor- 
man conquest. Of this history the first copies were 
mutilated ; for the licenser expunged several pas- 
sages, which, reprobating the pride and superstition 
of the monks in the Saxon times, were interpreted 
as a covert satire upon the bishops of the day. But 
Milton gave a copy of the proscribed remarks to the 
Earl of Anglesea, which were published in 1681 
with a preface, declaring that they originally he- 
longed to the third book of his history ; and they 
are now found in their proper place. They present 
to the reader, not what the licenser had in his zeal 
imagined, but a character of the Long Parlia- 
ment, and Assembly of Divines ; and they had 
been expunged, according to Richardson, " as being 
a sort of digression, and in order to avoid giving 
offence to a party quite subdued, and whose faults 

. d The printed word is ilh/mind. Illuminated has been sug- 
gested. 



210 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the government was then willing to have forgotten." 
The six books, which Milton executed, appeared in 
1670. Of the passages then suppressed, and since 
1738 always accompanying the history, Dr. Dibdin 
has lately said, that " e his friend Mr. Amyot seems 
to suspect that Milton was not the author ; and he 
owns that he also inclines to this opinion." The cause 
of the suspicion is not told. And still I venture to 
think, that whoever will carefully read Milton's Te- 
nure of Kings and of Magistrates, or his Treatise 
and his Considerations f already noticed, will find 
more than one expressive parallel, which may per- 
suade him, that of the remarks in question the poet 
was certainly the author. 

In 1671, he g published the Paradise Regained, 
and Samson Agonist es. Of the former poem Phil- 
lips has h recorded Milton's opinion ; not his pre- 
ference of it to Paradise Lost, but his x mortifica- 
tion to find it censured as infinitely inferiour to his 



e Library Companion, &c. 1824, p. 201. 

f See the preceding sections. 

s At the price, bound, of two shillings and sixpence. Clavel's 
Catalogue, 1673* 

h Life of Milton, 1694, p. xxxix. 

* In a manuscript note, at the end of Toland's Life of Milton, 
communicated to me by Mr. F. G. Waldron, it is related that Pa- 
radise Regained was, in the poet's own opinion, the better poem, 
though it could never obtain to be named with Paradise Lost ; 
and that Milton gave this reason for the general dislike, namely, 
That the people had a general sense of the loss of Paradise, but 
not an equal gust for the regaining of it. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 211 

former epick production. His pretended preference 
has been k recommended by an ingenious writer, with 
other popular tales believed without vouchers, and 
without probability, to supreme contempt. 

Uncommon energy of thought, and felicity of com- 
position, as Mr. Hayley observes, are apparent in 
both the performances of Milton, however different 
in design, dimension, and effect. And Mr. Dun- 
ster, the learned editor of Paradise Regained in 
1795, happily advanced the poem from the obscurity 
in which it had been too long shrouded ; pleading 
its merits with the masterly discrimination of an 
eloquent advocate. Mr. Warton and Mr. Hayley 
assert, that the poet planned or began it at Chal- 
font : Mr. Dunster argues, that he probably finished 
it at this temporary residence. " We may suppose," 
he says, " that Milton remained at Chalfont till to- 
wards the Spring of 1666 ; as it is said he did not 
return to London until ( the sickness was over, and 
the city was well cleansed, and become safely habita- 
ble.' — Ell wood proceeds to inform us, that, ' when 
he waited on him afterwards in London, which he 
seldom failed to do when his occasions led him thi- 
ther,' Milton showed him his second poem ; and ' in 
a pleasant tone,' (which to me indicates his own full 
approbation of his work,) said to him, ' This is 
owing to you, for you put it in my head by the 
question you put to me at Chalfont ; which before I 



k Letters of Literature, 1785, p. 41 
p 2 



212 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE . 

had not thought of.' It seems therefore nearly cer- 
tain, that the whole of the poem was composed at 
Chalfont. As it was conceived with fervour, it was, 
I doubt not, proceeded in e with eager thought/ 
This was the characteristick of Milton in composi- 
tion, as may be collected from his letter to his friend 
Deodate, (September 2, 1637,) where he describes 
his own temper to be marked with an eagerness to 
finish whatever be had begun ; ( meum sic est inge- 
nium, nulla ut mora, nulla quies, nulla ferme illius 
rei cura, aut cogitatio distineat, quoad pervadam 
quo feror, et grandem aliquam studiorum meorum 
quasi periodum conficiam.' Epist. Familiar, vi. 
There is also such a high degree of unity, connec- 
tion, and integral perfection in the whole of this 
second poem, as indicates it to have been the unin- 
terrupted work of one season ; and, as I would sup- 
pose, the exclusive occupation of his divine genius 
during his residence in Buckinghamshire. To have 
composed the whole of the poem in that time, would 
require him to produce only about ten lines a day ; 
and many parts are given so perfectly con amove, 
that I am confident, upon those occasions, he pro- 
ceeded at a vevy diffevent rate. That the Para- 
dise Regained was not published till five years after 
the time when I suppose it to have been completed, 
might be the ground on which Mr. Warton consi- 
dered it as not being then finished : and yet many 
other reasons might be assigned for its not being 
printed sooner. Paradise Lost, we know, was 
finished at least two years before it was printed ; 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 213 

and it was not till a year after Milton's return to 
London from Chalfont, that the contract with Sa- 
muel Simmons for the copy of it was signed, and the 
first purchase money of five pounds was paid for it. 
Milton, we find, received the second five pounds 
two years after ; the stipulated number of copies, to 
entitle him thereto, being then sold. The author 
probably did not think of going again to the press 
with his second poem, till he saw the requisite sale 
of the first accomplished. Paradise Regained 
might also wait for the completion of its companion, 
the Samson ; a work, which furnishes some internal 
proofs of its having been composed at different pe- 
riods. In July, 1670, the two poems were licensed, 
and were printed the year following. In 1670 was 
printed his History of England; so that Milton 
was not without his occupations between the time of 
his return to London, in the Spring of 1666, and 
his procuring the licence for printing his Paradise 
Regained and Samson Agonistes in July 1670. 
That he might revise and correct his brief epick pre- 
vious to this, is very possible : but, that it was com- 
posed in its first form at Chalfont, I think, cannot 
be doubted. Accordingly I regard the little man- 
sion there with no small degree of veneration, as 
being exclusively the incunabula of Milton's Para- 
dise Regained. I should approach it as a Tibur 
or a Tusculum ; and should feel myself on classick 
ground." — For • similar reasons the poet's last resi- 

1 See the Note n to the Nuncupative Will. i 



214 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

dence, the house in the Artillery-walk, may appear 
to his enthusiastick admirers, as Mr. Hayley remarks, 
consecrated by his genius. 

From Paradise Regained we proceed to the 
poem which follows it, the Samson Agonistes ; in 
which there are so many severe strictures, clearly 
pointing at the Restoration, and at the subsequent 
sufferings of Milton's party, that it has been often 
wondered it should have been sanctioned with an 
imprimatur* A learned antiquary thus endeavours 
to account for this indulgence in the licenser : (i m Hurt 
by the censures, to which he had subjected himself 
by his over-refined cavils at Paradise Lost, he might 
be unwilling to renew and encrease the obloquy, by 
demurring at the appearance of another poem of 
unquestionable excellence." To his own sufferings 
also the poet often alludes in this sublime and af- 
fecting tragedy. He had before couched his com- 
plaint, as well as his unsubdued contempt of regal 
government, under the concluding sentence of his 
history : " As the long-suffering of God permits bad 
men to enjoy prosperous days with the good, so his 
severity ofttimes exempts not good men from their 
share in evil times with the bad," 

In 1672, he published his Artis Logicce plenior 
institutio, ad Rami methodum concinnata. This 
work and his Accidence commenced Grammar are 

m Denne's Hist, of Lambeth Parish, &c. 1795, p. 344. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 215 

proofs of that zeal for careful education, which Mil- 
ton shewed throughout his life. And to this zeal 
Dr. Johnson has paid a tribute of applause, not more 
honourable than just. " To that multiplicity of 
attainments, and extent of comprehension, that 
entitle this great author to our veneration, may be 
added a kind of humble dignity, which did not dis- 
dain the meanest services to literature. The epick 
poet, the controvertist, the politician, having already 
descended to accommodate children with a book of 
rudiments, now, in the last years of his life, com- 
posed a book of Logick, for the initiation of students 
in philosophy." Of his book of Logick there was a 
second edition in the following year. 

In 1673, his Treatise Of true Religion, Heresie, 
Schism, Toleration, and what best means may be 
used against the growth of Popery, was published. 
In this discourse there are some passages which shew 
that Milton had altered his opinion, since his younger 
days, respecting certain points of doctrine. But that 
^ regard for the Holy Writings, which always predo- 
minated in his mind, is particularly observable in it. 
<e Let not," he says, " the countryman, the trades- 
man, the lawyer, the physician, the statesman, ex- 
cuse himself by his much business, from the studious 
reading of the Bible." This advice he offers as the 
best preservative against Popery. His principle of 
toleration, as Dr. Johnson observes, is agreement in 
the sufficiency of the Scriptures ; and he extends it 
to all who, whatever their opinions are, profess to 



216 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE L0"E 

derive them from the Sacred Books. In the same 
year he reprinted his juvenile poems with some ad- 
ditions, and with the Tractate on Education. Not- 
withstanding the publick avowal of his opposition to 
Popery, the infamous Titus Gates had the impu- 
dence to assert, not long afterwards, that " Milton 
was a known n frequenter of a Popish Club." 

In 1674, the last year of his laborious life, he 
published his Familiar Letters in Latin, to which 
he added some Academical Exercises. His em- 
ployment of the press closed for ever in a transla- 
tion of the ° Latin Declaration of the Poles in 
favour of John the third, their heroick sovereign. 
Dr. Symmons professes himself to be doubtful of the 
fact of Milton having translated this Declaration; 
€C as the Latin document could arrive in England 
only a very short time before his death, and the 
translation bears no resemblance to his character of 
composition." This doubt is admitted by Mr. Haw- 
kins in his recent additions to bishop Newton's life 
of the poet. Now the Declaration had been made 
in May, and the translator of it died in the following 
November. The translation would exact from Mil- 



n Dedication or address prefixed to the true Narrative of the 
Horrid Plot,&c. of the Popish Party, by T. Oates, D.D. fol. 
Lond. 1679. 

° The Biographical Dictionary, of 1798, calls this piece a 
translation from the Dutch. See vol. x. p. 465. But the title- 
page of the performance announces it thus : " Now faithfully 
translated, from the Latin Copy.'* 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 217 

ton not many hours. But the original, so brief and 
at the same time so formal, could hardly call forth 
any distinctive graces of his pen. Yet we may trace 
his hand, I think, in the use of interreign not a 
common word, which is found in this Declaration 
and in his History of England ; and in the rudi- 
ments of warfare, which, while it is a classical ex- 
pression, his Paradise Regained, as well as the pre- 
sent translation, exhibits. But he p delighted not, 
he has told us, in translations. Yet in the cause of 
this popular sovereign, who was the patron too of 
men of letters, he stooped,. I can believe, with plea- 
sure. Sobieski also was a king to Milton's mind : 
he might be deposed by his subjects. 

Milton had now been long a sufferer by the gout ; 
and in July, considering his end to be approaching, 
he informed his brother Christopher, who was then 
a bencher in the Inner Temple, that he wished to 
dictate to him the disposition of his property. And 
the discovery of this Nuncupative Will has illus- 
trated the domestick manners of the poet. He 
died on q Sunday the 8th of November folio w- 



p See the remark in the next section, p. 223. 

q Mr. Hayley says, on Sunday the 15th of November. But 
it appears, by the Register of St. Giles's Cripplegate, that he 
was buried on the 12th. " L. John Melton, gentleman. Con- 
sumption. Chancell. 12. Nov. 1674." Melton has been altered, 
in fresher ink, to Milton. L. denotes the liberty of the parish. 
Mr. Steevens supposed the entry to have been made by the un- 
dertaker, who knew nothing more of Milton than that he was 



218 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

ing. His death was so easy, that the time of his 
expiration was unperceived by the attendants in his 
room. 

The remains of Milton were attended to the grave 
by " r all his learned and great friends in London, 
not without a friendly concourse of the vulgar." He 
was buried next his father in the chancel of St. Giles, 
Cripplegate. In August, 1790, the spot, where his 
body had been deposited, was opened ; and a corpse, 
hastily supposed to be his, was exposed to publick 
view. A Narrative of the disinterment of the coffin, 
and of the treatment of the corpse, was published by 
Philip Neve, Esq. The Narrative was immediately 
and ably answered in the St. James's Chronicle, in 
Nine Reasons why it is improbable that the coffin, 
lately dug up in the Parish Church of St. Giles, 
Cripplegate, should contain the reliques of Milton. 
Mr. Neve added a Postscript to his Narrative. But 
all his labour appears to have been employed in an 
imaginary cause. The late Mr. Steevens, who par- 
ticularly lamented the indignity which the nominal 
ashes of the poet sustained, has intimated in his s ma- 
dead. Aubrey says, " He was buried at the upper end in St. 
Gyles Cripple-gate chancell," and that, " when the two steppes 
to the Communion Table were raysed, (in 1679) his Stone was 
removed." 

r Toland's Life of Milton, prefixed to the edition of Milton's 
Prose- Works, printed (not at Amsterdam as asserted in the title- 
page,) but at London, in 1698, fol. p. 46. 

8 Formerly in the possession of the late James Bindley, Esq. ; 
by whom I was favoured with the perusal of them. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 219 

nuscript remarks on this Narrative and Postscript, 
that the disinterred corpse was supposed to be that of 
a female, and that the minutest examination of the 
fragments could not disprove, if it did not confirm, 
the supposition. Mr. Lofft, noticing the burial of 
the poet in St. Giles's church, has eloquently cen- 
sured " * the sordid mischief committed in it, and 
the market made of the eagerness with which curio- 
sity or admiration prompted persons to possess them- 
selves of his supposed remains, which, however, there 
is reason to believe, far from being Milton's, were the 
bones of a person not of the same age or sex. It 
were to be wished that neither superstition, affecta- 
tion, idle curiosity, or avarice, were so frequently in- 
vading the silence of the grave. Far from honouring 
the illustrious dead, it is rather outraging the com- 
mon condition of humanity, and last melancholy state 
in which our present existence terminates. Dust and 
ashes have no intelligence to give, whether beauty, 
genius, or virtue, informed the animated clay. A 
tooth of Homer or Milton will not be distinguished 
from one of a common mortal ; nor a bone of Alex- 
ander acquaint us with more of his character than 
one of Bucephalus. Though the dead be uncon- 
cerned, the living are neither benefited nor improved : 
decency is violated, and a kind of instinctive sym- 
pathy infringed, which, though it ought not to over- 
power reason, ought not without it, and to no pur- 



1 Preface to his edition of the first book of Paradise Lost, 
1792, p. xxx. 



220 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

pose, to be superseded. But whether the remains of 
that body which once was Milton's, or those of any 
other person were thus exposed and set to sale, death 
and dissolution have had their empire over these. 
The spirit of his immortal works survives invulner- 
able, and must survive. These are his best image, 
these the reliques which a rational admiration may 
cherish and revere !" 

It has been observed that the original stone, laid 
on the grave of Milton, was removed not many 
years after his interment. Nor were his remains 
honoured by any other memorial in Cripplegate 
church, till the year 1793 ; when, by the munificence 
of the late Mr. Whitbread, an animated marble bust, 
the sculpture of Bacon, under which is a plain tablet, 
recording the dates of the poet's birth and death, 
and of his father's decease, was erected in the middle 
aisle. To the Author of Paradise Lost a similar 
tribute of respect had been paid, in 1737, by Mr. 
Benson ; who procured his bust to be admitted, 
where once his name had been deemed a profanation, 
into Westminster Abbey. And the reception of the 
monument into this venerable edifice became imme- 
diately the theme of the muses u . 

u Dr. George, provost of King's College, Cambridge, and Vin- 
cent Bourne, Usher of Westminster School, have written upon 
this occasion some Latin hexameters, which have been much 
admired for their spirit and their elegance. 



SECTION V. 



Of political and other Publications ascribed to Milton ; 
with reference to Ms genuine Prose-Works, and their 
general cltaracter. 

While the pen of Milton has been a needlessly ques- 
tioned in regard to part of his history of England, 
and to the translation of the Polish document ; ano- 
nymous publications, on the other hand, have been 
ascribed to him. Most of them appeared while he 
was living. And perhaps to his political rather than 
his literary character we owe these assumptions. 
Of such it may gratify curiosity to give an account. 

On very slender grounds Peck attributed to him 
the translation of Buchanan's Baptistes, which ap- 
peared in 1641, with the following title: " Tyran- 
nical Government anatomized, or, A Discourse con- 
cerning evil Counselors : being the Life and Death 
of John the Baptist, and presented to the King's 
most excellent Majesty by the author." Aubrey 
and Wood, from different motives, would not have 

a See before, pp. 210. 217. 



222 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

forborne to notice so remarkable a production, if it 
had proceeded from the pen of Milton. This trans- 
lation has been b supposed, with great probability, 
to have been intended as a hint to Charles the first, 
of the danger he then incurred from the counsels of 
some about him : and the history of the Baptist, who 
lost his head by the instigation of Herodias, seems 
figuratively to glance at the death of lord Strafford, 
and at the influence of the queen. Peck, however* 
might have noticed a political pamphlet, c published 
in the following year, " by J. M :" of which the 
royal counsellors are the principal theme. From 
numerous examples I will cite one : " It is the king's 
crown that is aimed at, and not onely so, but even 
the very dethroning of him, and his whole posterity; 
and in truth so it is, but by his Majesties evill 
Councellors ; who, to magnifie themselves, intend 
the ruin of the Commonwealth : And is not that in 
effect a dethroning of his Majesty ? All that I shall 
say is but this : No government more blest or happie, 
if not abused by the advice of vile and malignant 
Counsellours" p. 3. From the following passage 
some readers might suspect J. M., the author of 
this pamphlet, to be Milton : " Freedome, as it is a 
great mercy, so it ought of temporal blessings, next 
to our lives, to receive the greatest estimate ; the 

b Biograph. Dramat. vol. ii. p. 387. 

c Entitled, " A Reply to the Answer (printed by his Majesties 
command at Oxford) to a printed Booke intituled ' Observations 
upon some of his Majesties late Answers and Expresses.' By 
J. M. London, printed for M. Walbancke, 1642." 4°. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 223 

slavery of the body is the usher to the thraldome of 
conscience ; and if we foolishly surrender up this, 
the other will not be long after!" p. 12. But, in 
p. 20, there is sufficient proof, that Milton could 
not have written it. " What have we to do with 
Aristocracy, or Democracy ? God be blessed, we nor 
know, nor desire, any other government than that 
of Monarchy /" Peck, therefore, if he had seen this 
pamphlet, would find that, notwithstanding it har- 
monized in a considerable degree with the subject of 
the poetical translation, it could not be rendered 
subservient to his hypothesis. Milton, in the account 
he gives of himself, appears indeed to have been no 
friend to translations : " d I never could delight in 
long citations, much less in whole traductions ; whe- 
ther it be natural disposition or education in me, or 
that my mother bore me a speaker of what God 
made mine own, and not a translator." He is said 
indeed to have declined translating Homer. 

In 1642 was published " An Argument, or De- 
bate in Law, of the great Question concerning the 
Militia ; as it is now settled by Ordinance of both 
the Houses of Parliament. By J. M. London, 
1642." 4°. On the title-page of this pamphlet, (now 
in the possession of the Marquis of Stafford,) Mil- 
ton's elder Brother in Comus, the second Earl of 
Bridgewater, has written the name of the poet as 
the author. At the end of Phillips's Life of Milton 

u Prose-Works, vol. i. p. 407, ed. 1698. 



224 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



with manuscript remarks by Oldys, communicated 
to me by Mr. Reed, this tract was also noticed among 
Oldys's additions to the publications of Milton. The 
same remark is made in a e volume of Tracts, be- 
longing to the Archiepiscopal Library in Lambeth 
Palace, with additions apparently from a contempo- 
rary writer ; additions, indeed, not exhibiting genu- 
ine claims to credit, yet curious and amusing ; and 
in the following order. 

1. John Milton's Speech for unlicensd Printing. 

2. His Salve for if Blind, a def: qfy e ParlamK 

3. His Argument concerning y e Militia. 

5. His Jus. Populi. 

6. Ei/cwvo/cAatrrrjc, his Answer to y e Kings Book. 

7. His Tenure of Kings. 

4. The Parlam ts Petition cone: y e Militia, & y e 

Kings Answ r . 

The numbers 5, 6, and 7, have been altered by the 
writer of the preceding contents, as he had omitted 
to put number 4 in its proper place. And 5 ap- 
pears to have first stood without his before Jus ; 
but is added evidently by the same hand. After the 
Jus Populi were also the following words, by some 
supposed to be his ; but these words are crossed 
through with the pen, and his prefixed, as I have 
before stated. The initials J. M. Esquire are printed 
in the title-page of the second of these tracts, and 

f Numbered I. 5. 23. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 225 

the remarker has written under them J. Milton ; as 
he has also placed in the title-page of the fifth, 
which exhibits no name or initials, the letters J. M. 
But however careful and earnest this remarker has 
been, I am convinced he is mistaken, in attributing 
these two pamphlets to Milton. They exhibit indeed 
(particularly the latter) many energetick sentiments 
and expressions. The former, printed in 1643, 
opens with this pithy avowal to the Reader : " It is 
not rhetorick but reason can satisfie the judgment. 
The former may cozen the conscience, and dazle 
simple men : the latter onely can satisfie the wise, 
and lead to truth. A rough diamond is precious, 
when the best wrought glass is despicable : the 
painted oratory which best pleaseth the vulgar, ill 
suits with the well-becoming gravity of a statist." 
But, very soon afterwards, the author tells us that 
the unhappy state of things (C hath inforc'd a pen 
ever before still to expose itselfe to publike censure." 
The author therefore was not Milton. In the latter 
of these tracts, published in 1644, there is a pas- 
sage so minutely concurring with Milton's observa- 
tions on the same subject, as might almost lead the 
reader to admit the justice of the remarkets desig- 
nation. " f The nature of Man being depraved by 



f Jus Populi, pp. 42, 43. Compare Milton's reflection on the 
political union of the fallen Angels, Par. Lost, B. ii. 496. 

" O shame to Men ! Devil with Devil damn'd 
" Firm concord holds ; Men only disagree 
" Of creatures rational, though under hope 

VOL. I. Q 



226 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

the fall of Adam, miseries of all sorts broke in upon 
us in throngs, together with sin ; insomuch that no 
creature is now so uncivill and untame, or so unfit 
either to live with or without societie, as Man. 
Wolves and beares can better live without wolves 
and beares, than Man can without Man ; yet neither 
are wolves nor beares so fell, so hostile, and so de- 
structive to their own kinde, as Man is to his. In 
some respects, Man is more estranged from politicall 
union than Devils are : for by reason of naturall dis- 
parities the reprobate Angels continue without dis- 
solution of order, and shun that confusion amongst 
themselves which they endeavour to promote amongst 
Men. But amongst Men, nothing but cursed en- 
mitie is to be seen." However, in a preceding page, 
the favourite topick of Milton's literary employ- 
ment in 1644 is mentioned in such a manner as at 
once destroys the possibility of his having written 
the treatise. The author is speaking of divorce 
and repudiation : " g And that," he says, " seemes 
discountenanced by our Saviour, except in case of 
Adultery." This was not the doctrine of Milton. 

By Anthony Wood we are next informed, that 

" Of heavenly grace : and, God proclaiming peace, 
" Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife, 
" Among themselves, and levy cruel wars, 
" Wasting the earth, each other to destroy ; 
"As if (which might induce us to accord) 
"Man had not hellish foes enow besides, 
" That, day and night, for his destruction wait." 
s Jus Populi, p. 31. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 227 

Milton was thought to be the author of The Grand 
Case of Conscience concerning the Engagement, 
which was published in 1649-50 ; but Dr. Birch re- 
presents the style of the pamphlet as not in the least 
supporting such an opinion. 

After his decease, however, there h appeared a 
work, into which, there is good reason to suppose, 
Milton had thrown many additions and corrections ; 
a work, Mr. Warton has well observed, i containing 
criticisms far above the taste of that period ; criti- 
cisms not common after the national taste had been 
just corrupted by the false and capricious refinements 
of the Court of Charles the Second ; among which is 
a judgement on Shakspeare, not then, Mr. Warton 
believes, the general opinion, perfectly coinciding 
with the sentiments and words of Milton in 
U Allegro ; 

" Or sweetest Shakspeare's, Fancy's child, 
" Warble his native wood-notes wild ;" 

for the judgement is, that " never any expressed a 
more lofty and tragick height than this child of 
Fancy ; never any represented Nature more purely 

h Bishop Kennet notices in his Register, p. 321, this work, as 
having been published in 1660. See also the Catalogue of the 
late Dr. Farmer's books, p. 178, where a copy of this date is also 
mentioned. Yet the Imprimatur for Phillips's book is dated 
Sept. 14, 1674. And Milton's death is mentioned in it. There 
is, therefore, some mistake as to the noticed work of 1660. 

1 See his Hist, of Eng. Poetry, and his Edit, of Milton's 
Smaller Poems. 

Q 2 



228 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

to the life ; and, where the polishments of art are 
most wanting, as probably his learning was not ex- 
traordinary, he pleaseth with a certain wild and 
native elegance." Other traces of Milton's hand 
may certainly be discovered in this interesting vo- 
lume, which was entitled, " Theatrum Poetarum 
Anglicanorwn, or, A Compleat Collection of the 
Poets, especially the most eminent, of all ages," &c. 
and was published by his nephew Edward Phillips, in 
1675. 

Anthony Wood relates, that the Enchiridion 
Linguce Latince, and Speculum Linguce Latins, 
both published in 1684 by his nephew also, were all 
or mostly taken from the Latin Dictionary of Milton 
before noticed. The Satyr against Hypocrites, 
an extremely coarse but curious picture of the times, 
published in 1655, and of which there have been 
several impressions, was also attributed to Milton, 
and even k advertised as his production. But his 
nephew Edward undeceived the world ; not suffer- 
ing the leaves of this supposititious laurel to be torn 
from the brow of his brother John. " 1 John Phil- 
lips, the maternal nephew and disciple of an author 
of most deserved fame, late deceas't, being the ex- 
actest of heroic poets, (if the truth were well exa- 

k Even so late as in 1710 the poem was scandalously published 
with this deceptious title, " Mr. John Milton's Satyre against 
Hypocrites, written whilst he was Latin Secretary to Oliver 
Cromwell." 

1 Theatrum Poet. 1675. Modern Poets, pp. 114, 115. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 229 

mined, and it is the opinion of many both learned 
and judicious persons,) either of the ancients or mo- 
derns, either of our own or whatever nation else ; 
from whose education as he hath receiv'd a judicious 
command of style both in prose and verse, so from 
his own natural ingenuity he hath his vein of bur- 
lesque and facetious poetry, which product the 
Satyr against Hypocrites," &c. Edward and John 
Phillips are indeed the authors of various publica- 
tions ; although Dr. Johnson has hastily asserted the 
brief history of poetry to have been the m only pro- 
duct of Milton's academy. Johnson is also cen- 
sured by some n writers for having affirmed the his- 
tory to be written in Latin, which is, with a Latin 
title, written in English. But Wood informs us, 
that Phillips is the author of ° another work similar 

ni I have been favoured by John Nichols, Esq. with an Epitaph 
" On the excellently learned John Milton," as it appeared in 
The Daily Gazetteer of Oct. 30, 1738, said to be written by 
an eminent author and one of Milton s pupils. This pupil, how- 
ever, appears to have caught none of the Miltonick taste or 
spirit ; his verses being miserably tame and prosaick. 

n The annotator on the Lives of the Poets, edit. 1794, and 
Mr. Hayley. See also the Gent. Mag. 1789, p. 416. 

° Entitled, 1 . " Tractatulus de carmine dramatico poetarum, 
prsesertim in choris tragicis, et veteris Comoedise. 

2. " Compendiosa enumeratio poetarum (saltern quorum fama 
maxime enituit) qui a tempore Dantis Aligerii usque ad hanc 
aetatem claruerunt ; nempe Italorum, Germanorum, Anglorum, 
&c." 

These two things, Wood informs us, " were added to the 
seventeenth edition of Jo h . Buchlerus his book, entit. Sacrarum 
pr of anar unique phrasium poeticarum Thesaurus, Sfc. 1669." 
Ath. Ox. ut. supr. See a list of the two Phillips's publications, 



230 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

to the Theatrum Poetarum already mentioned, and 
written in the language which Johnson has related, 
who indeed gives no specifick reference to either 
publication. 

Let us now revert to the undisputed writings of 
Milton in prose. 

There is in the Library of Trinity College, Dub- 
lin, a volume of these, in the p underwritten order, 
which he had presented to the learned Patrick 
Young, Charles the first's librarian ; to whom he 
has prefixed a brief address concluding with an ex- 
pression similar to that in Paradise Lost, of rinding 
fit audience, though few ; — " q paucis hujusmodi 

ibid, and p. 1119. To which, perhaps, may be added a copy of 
verses Upon the incomparable poems of Mr. William Drummond, 
afterwards prefixed to the works of that elegant author printed at 
Edinburgh in 1711, and signed Edw. Phillips. Phillips, in his 
Theatrum Poetarum, seems much interested in behalf of Drum- 
mond, and expresses his sorrow that in his time this charming 
poet should be so little noticed. 

p 1. Of Reformation touching Church Discipline, &c. 

2. Of Prelaticall Episcopacy. 

3. The Reason of Church Government, &c. 

4. Animadversions upon the Remonstrants Defence, &c. 

5. An Apology against a Pamphlet, &c. 

6. The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. 

7. The judgement of Martin Bucer. 

8. Colasterion. 

9. Tetrachordon. 
10. Areopagitica. 

f ' The address is written on the margin of the first title-page 
in the volume, part of which has been cut off in the binding. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 231 

lectoribus contenttis" Whether Milton's avowal of 
content with a few readers, such as Young, may be 
thought to favour Mr. Warton's opinion that the 
prose-works of Milton were never popular, I leave to 
the reader's decision. But I do not believe that these 
writings experienced so much contemporary neglect, 
as some have been led to suppose. I find the dic- 
tion, by which they are distinguished, thus concisely 
but strongly commended in 1650 : " r In truth it is 
very hard to write good English : and few have at- 
tained its height, in this last frie of books, but Mr. 
Milton." Mr. Warton indeed has treated the prose 
of Milton, both English and Latin, with almost un- 
relenting severity ; conceding only to the nervous 
s Areopagitica, and the Tractate on Education, 

Mr. Cooper Walker who communicated to me the notice of 
this curiosity, informed me also that, at the top of the page, is 
written the name of a former possessor, Matt. Pilkington, Stam- 
ford, 1693. 

r An Introduction to the Teutonick Philosophic, &c. By C. 
Hotham, Fellow of Peter House, Englished by D. F. 12mo. 
1650. Preface. 

s Certainly these two have obtained, among the numerous 
prose-works of Milton, more than ordinary distinction and ap- 
plause. The Tractate on Education was republished in 1751 
with a dedication to lord Harcourt, at that time governor to the 
Prince of Wales, (his late Majesty,) and Prince Edward ; " it 
being thought necessary," the editor says, " at this juncture to 
reprint it, as the prosperity of ourselves and posterity depends ; in 
a great measure, on the education of two princes, whose example 
in learning and virtue, it is hoped, will be a model for the youth 
of this nation." It has since appeared, in a separate form, more 
than once ; and also in French. The same may be said of the 
Areopagitica, in English ; and to that edition which was pub- 



232 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

any tribute of praise. Yet in many of Milton's 
English treatises, besides the Tractate on Educa- 
tion and the Areopagitica ; and in his several Latin 
disquisitions ; abundant examples of highest literary 
merit, deeply interesting in the subject as well as the 
composition, may surely be found. Perhaps indeed 
his English prose is, in general, too learned. The 
style of it at least is sometimes certainly recondite. 
Of his History of England Warburton has said, 
that " it is written with great simplicity, contrary 
to his custom in his prose-works ; and is the better 
for it. But he sometimes rises to a surprising gran- 
deur in the sentiment and expression, as at the con- 
clusion of the second book, Henceforth we are to 
steer, &c. I never saw any thing equal to this, but 
the conclusion of Sir Walter Ralegh's History of the 
World."— That in his civil and religious speculations 
Milton is occasionally virulent, who will deny ? His 
pen, when dipped in the gall of puritanism, hurries' 
him into judgement without candour and condemna- 
tion without mercy. Hence the close of his Reform- 
ation in England is " * the very torrent, tempest, 
and (as I may say) whirlwind of his passion, without 
a temperance to give it smoothness ;" while the pre- 
ceding sentence is all loftiness of thought and eleva- 
tion of language. But sometimes also, in his prose, 

lished in 1738, Thomson the poet is said to have written the pre- 
face. It may be observed too, that of the Areopagitica, and the 
Tractate on Education, Milton himself, in his Second Defence, 
speaks widi pleasure and a confidence of their value. 
- * Shaksp. Hamlet. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 233 

that abusive spirit and those grim expressions, which 
the turbulence of the times excited, are followed by 
a gentleness, which, like the beautiful calm that suc- 
ceeds his own elemental commotion, presents him 
to us 

" u more fresh and green, 



" After a night of storm so ruinous." 

Milton is x supposed to have been an admirer of 
the works of Jeremy Taylor ; to have even studied 
them ; and to have borrowed from them ideas and 
expressions. With proofs of this description we are 
not yet supplied. But the energy of his prose has 
been allowed to equal, though not to surpass, that 
of the prelate. Perhaps the prose of Taylor is not 
very often of similar character to that of Milton. 
Nor is that of bishop Hall, another eloquent con- 
temporary. But from this great triumvirate we 
gather abundantly the diversified arrangement and 
application of bright and majestick sentiments, of 
the most powerful and commanding words. Milton 
perhaps has never soared, in compositions of this 
kind, to a greater height, than when with romantick, 
and classical, and scriptural allusions, he hints at the 
future production of some noble poem; as in his 
Reason of Church Government y already cited ; 
where he also loftily tells of " an inward prompting, 

u Par. Regained, B. iv. 435. 

x See the Life of bishop Taylor by archdeacon Bonney, and 
by bishop Heber. 
y In p. 52, et seq. 



234 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

which in his youth grew daily upon him, that by 
labour and intense study he might perhaps leave 
something so written to after-times, as they 
should not willingly let it die f the very anticipa- 
tion, which he had z before communicated to Deodati, 
that he was meditating an immortality of fame ; 
an anticipation, which the judgement of posterity 
has confirmed. 

2 Literse Fam. dat. Sept. 23, 1637. 



SECTION VI. 



Of the personal and general character of Milton ; of his 
circumstances ; and of his family, 

Milton, in his youth, is said to have been extremely 
a handsome. He was called the Lady of his Col- 

a The first published portrait of Milton was that by Marshall, 
prefixed to the edition of the juvenile poems in 1645. With the 
palpable dissimilitude of this portrait Milton was justly displeased, 
as his verses, In Effigiei Sculptor em, evidently prove. In the year 
1670, there was another plate, by Faithorne, from a drawing in 
crayons by Faithorne, prefixed to his History of Britain, with 
this legend ; " Gul. Faithorne ad vivum delin. et sculpsit. Joannis 
Miltoni effigies, iEtat. 62. 1670." It is also prefixed to the 
edition of his Prose-Works in 1698. It has been observed, that 
this engraving is not in Faithorne's best manner. The print has 
been several times copied. By an ingenious young artist a new 
drawing was taken from Faithorne's picture, (supposed to be 
the best likeness extant of the poet, and for which he sat at the 
age of sixty-two,) by the kind permission of William Baker, Esq. 
in whose possession it now is ; from which an engraving was made 
for my first edition of Milton's poetical works. From the same 
picture the neat engraving in the present edition is also made. 
Faithorne's print is copied by W. Dolle, before Milton's Logick, 
1672. Dolle's print is likewise prefixed to the second edition 
of Paradise Lost. Faithorne was also copied afterwards by 
Robert White, and next by Vertue. Mr. Warton has given 
many other particulars of paintings and engravings of Milton. 



236 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



lege ; an appellation which he himself has recorded, 
and which Mr. Hayley says he could not relish. 

" There are four or five original pictures of our author. The 
first, a half length with a laced ruff, is by Cornelius Jansen, in 
1618, when he was only a boy of ten years old. It had belonged 
to Milton's widow, his third wife, who lived in Cheshire. This 
was in the possession of Mr. Thomas Hollis, having been pur- 
chased at Mr. Charles Stanhope's sale for thirty-one guineas, in 
June, 1760. Lord Harrington wishing to have the lot returned, 
Mr. Hollis replied, ' his lordship's whole estate should not re- 
purchase it/ It was engraved by J. B. Cipriani, in 1760. Mr. 
Stanhope bought it of the executors of Milton's widow, for twenty 
guineas. The late Mr. Hollis, when his lodgings in Covent- 
garden were on fire, walked calmly out of the house with this 
picture by Jansen in his hand, neglecting to secure any other por- 
table article of value. I presume it is now [1791] in the possession 
of Mr. Brand Hollis. Another, which had also belonged to Mil- 
ton's widow, is in the possession of the Onslow family. This, 
which is not at all like Faithorne's crayon-drawing, and by some 
is suspected not to be a portrait of Milton, has been more than 
once engraved by Vertue : who in his first plate of it, dated 1731, 
and in others, makes the age twenty-one. This has been also 
engraved by Houbraken in 1741, and by Cipriani. The ruff is 
much in the neat style of painting ruffs, about and before 1628. 
The picture is handsomer than the engravings. This portrait is 
mentioned in Aubrey's manuscript Life of Milton, 1681, as then 
belonging to the widow. And he says, ' Mem. Write his name in 
red letters on his pictures which his widowe has, to preserve them.' 
Vertue, in a Letter to Mr. Christian the seal engraver, in the 
British Museum, about 1720, proposes to ask Prior the poet, 
whether there had not been a picture of Milton in the late lord 
Dorset's Collection. The duchess of Portland has [had] a minia- 
ture of his head, when young ; the face has a stern thoughtful- 
ness, and, to use his own expression, is severe in youthful beauty. 
Before Peck's Neiu Memoirs of Milton, printed 1740, is a pre- 
tended head of Milton in exquisite mezzotinto, done by the second 
J. Faber : which is characteristically unlike any other represent- 
ation of our author I remember to have seen. It is from a 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 237 

From his Defensio Secunda, and his Apology for 
Smectymnuus, several circumstances, respecting his 

painting given to Peck by sir John Meres of Kirkby-Belers in 
Leicestershire. But Peck himself knew that he was imposing 
upon the publick. For having asked Vertue whether he thought 
it a picture of Milton, and Vertue peremptorily answering in the 
negative, Peck replied, ' I'll have a scraping from it, however ; 
and let posterity settle the difference. ' Besides, in this picture 
the left hand is on a book, lettered Paradise Lost. But Peck sup- 
poses the age about twenty-five, when Milton had never thought 
of that poem or subject. Peck mentions a head done by Milton 
himself on board : but it does not appear to be authenticated. 

" The Richardsons, and next the Tonsons, [before Mr. Baker,] 
had the admirable crayon-drawing above mentioned. About the 
year 1725, Vertue carried this drawing, with other reputed en- 
gravings and paintings of Milton, to Milton's favourite daughter 
Deborah, a very sensible woman, who died the wife of Abraham 
Clark a weaver in Spitalfields, in 1727, aged 76. He contrived 
to have them brought into the room as if by accident, while he was 
conversing with her. At seeing the drawing, taking no notice of 
the rest, she suddenly cried out in great surprise, ' Lord, that is 
the picture of my father ! How came you by it V And, stroking 
down the hair of her forehead, added, ' Just so my father wore 
his hair.' She was very like Milton. Compare Richardson, 
Explan. Notes, p. xxxvi. This head, by Faithorne, was etched 
by Richardson the father about 1734, with the addition of a 
laurel-crown to help the propriety of the motto. It is before the 
Explanatory Notes on the Paradise Lost, by the Richardsons, 
Lond. 1734. 8vo. The busts prefixed to Milton's Prose-Works 
by Birch 1738, and by Baron 1753, are engraved by Vertue from 
a bad drawing made by J. Richardson, after an original cast in 
plaster about fifty. Of this cast Mr. Hollis gave a drawing by 
Cipriani to Speaker Onslow in 1759. It was executed, perhaps, 
on the publication of the Defensio, by one Pierce an artist of 
some note, the same who did the marble bust of sir Christopher 
Wren in the Bodleian library, or by Abraham Simon. Mr. Hollis 
bought it of Vertue. It has been remodelled in wax by Gosset. 
Richardson the father also etched this bust for The Poems and 



238 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



person and habits of life, may be gathered. And that 
he might not be charged with boasting of his own 

Critical Essays of S. Say, 1745, 4to. But, I believe, this is the 
same etching that I have mentioned above, to have been made 
by old Richardson, 1734, and which was now lent to Say's editor, 
1745, for Say's Essays. 

" There is, however, another etching of Milton, by Richardson, 
the younger, before he was blind, and when much younger than 
fifty, accompanied with six bombast verses. ' Authentick Homer,' 
&c. The verses are subscribed * J. R. jun.' The drawings, as 
well as engravings of Milton by Cipriani, are many. There is 
a drawing of our author by Deacon : it is taken from a proof- 
impression on wax of a seal by Thomas Simon, Cromwell's chief 
mint-master, first in the hands of Mr. Yeo, afterwards of Mr. 
Hollis. This, a profile, has been lately engraved by Ryland. 
Mr. Hollis had a small steel puncheon of Milton's head, a full 
front, for a seal or ring, by the same T. Simon, who did many 
more of Milton's party in the same way. The medal of Milton 
struck by Tanner, for auditor Benson, is after the old plaster- 
bust, and Faithorne's crayon-piece, chiefly the latter. So is the 
marble bust in the Abbey, by Rysbrack, 1737. Scheemaker's 
marble bust, for Dr. Mead, and bought at his sale by Mr. Dun- 
combe, was professedly and exactly copied from the plaster-bust. 
Faithorne's is the most common representation of Milton's head. 
Either that, or the Onslow picture, are the heads in Bentley's, 
and Tickell's, and Newton's editions. All by Vertue. Milton's 
daughter Deborah above mentioned, the daughter of his first 
wife, and his amanuensis, told Vertue, that " her father was of 
a fair complexion, a little red in his cheeks, and light brown 
lank hair." Letter to Mr. Christian, ut supr. MS. Br. Mus. 

" Since these imperfect and hasty notices were thrown together, 
sir Joshua Reynolds has purchased a picture of Milton for one 
hundred guineas. It was brought to sir Joshua, 1784, by one 
Mr. Hunt, a printseller and picture-dealer, who bought it of a 
broker ; but the broker does not know the person of whom he 
had it. The portrait is dressed in black, with a band ; and the 
painter's mark and date are ' S. C. 1653.' This is written on 
the back. ' This picture belonged to Deborah Milton, who 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 239 

figure, -he facetiously declares that thus he spoke, 
lest any person, relying on the adversary who had 

was her father's amanuensis : at her death was sold to sir W. Da- 
venant's family. It was painted by Mr. Samuel Cooper, who was 
painter to Oliver Cromwell, at the time Milton was Latin Secre- 
tary to the Protector. The painter and poet were near of the 
same age ; Milton was born in 1608, and died in 1674, and 
Cooper was born in 1609, and died in 1672, and were com- 
panions and friends till death parted them. Several encouragers 
and lovers of the fine arts at that time wanted this picture ; par- 
ticularly Lord Dorset, John Somers, esquire, sir Robert Howard, 
Dryden, Atterbury, Dr. Aldrich, and sir John Denham.' Lord 
Dorset was probably the lucky man ; for this seems to be the 
very picture for which, as I have before observed, Vertue wished 
Prior to search in Lord Dorset's collection. Sir Joshua Reynolds 
says, ' The picture is admirably painted, and with such a cha- 
racter of nature, that I am perfectly sure it was a striking like- 
ness. I have now a different idea of the countenance of Milton, 
which cannot be got from any of the other pictures that I have 
seen. It is perfectly preserved, which shows that it has been shut 
up in some drawer ; if it had been exposed to the light, the 
colours would long before this have vanished.' It must be owned, 
that this miniature of Milton, lately purchased by sir Joshua 
Reynolds, strongly resembles Vandyke's picture of Selden in the 
Bodleian library at Oxford : and it is highly probable that Cooper 
should have done a miniature of Selden as a companion to the 
heads of other heroes of the commonwealth. For Cooper painted 
Oliver Cromwell, in the possession of the Frankland family; and 
another, in profile, at Devonshire house : Richard Cromwell at 
Strawbery-hill : Secretary Thurloe, belonging to Lord James 
Cavendish : and Ireton, Cromwell's general, now or late in the 
collection of Charles Polhill, esq. a descendant of Cromwell. The 
inference, however, might be applied to prove, that this head is 
Cooper's miniature of Milton. It has been copied by a female 
artist, in a style of uncommon elegance and accuracy." — 

The genuineness of this miniature, as the portrait of Milton, 
has been both asserted, and denied, with considerable warmth. 
See the Gentleman's Magazine for 1791, pp. 399. 603. 806. 



240 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

misrepresented him, might deem him a kind of rhi- 
noceros, or a monster with a dog's head ! /He had a 
very fine skin and fresh complexion. His hair was 
of a light brown ; and, parted on the foretop, hung 
down in curls upon his shoulders. His features were 
regular ; and when turned of forty, he has himself told 
us, he was generally allowed to have had the appear- 
ance of being ten years younger. He has also repre- 
sented himself as a man of moderate stature, neither 
too lean nor too corpulent ; and so far endued with 



The disputants are Lord Hailes and Sir Joshua himself. Most 
connoisseurs are inclined to believe the portrait to be that of 
Selden. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who died in 1792, makes the fol- 
lowing bequest, however, in his Will, to the Rev. William 
Mason : " The miniature of Milton by Cooper." See Malone's 
Life of Sir. J. Reynolds, prefixed to the Works of Sir. J. R. vol. i. 
p. cxviii. 2d edit. 

Two miniatures of the poet, and of his mother, were sold, 
at the sale of the Portland Museum in 1786, for 34/. See 
Gent. Mag. 1786, p. 527. In 1792 Mr. Elderton submitted 
to the publick the outlines of a supposed miniature of the poet in 
his possession. See Gent. Mag. 1792, p. 17. In 1797 a masterly 
engraving, from an original picture in the possession of Capel 
Lofft, esq. believed also to be that of Milton, was made by G. 
Quinton. At West Wycombe Manor-house, in Buckinghamshire, 
there is a fine portrait of Milton, supposed to be an original. See 
Langley's Hist, and Antiq. of the Hundred of Desborough, C°. 
of Bucks, 1797, p. 417. I have been indebted to the kindness of 
the late John Charnock jun. esq. of Greenwich, for an excellent 
original painting, conjectured by some to have been a portrait of 
Milton by Riley. Others have supposed it may be a head of his 
brother Christopher. It is, however, remarkable, that Mr. Green- 
slade, a collecter of paintings, who resided in Bond-street, Lon- 
don, had a copy of this very painting, which was exhibited as a 
portrait of the poet. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 241 

strength and spirit, that, as he always wore a sword, 
he wanted not, while light revisited his eyes, the skill 
or the courage to use it. His eyes were of a grayish 
colour ; which, when deprived of sight, did not betray 
their loss : At first view, and at a small distance, it 
was difficult to know that he was blind. The testi- 
mony of Aubrey respecting the person of Milton is 
curiously expressed : " His harmonicall and ingeniose 
soul did lodge in a beautifull and well proportioned 
body." Milton's voice b was musically sweet, as his 
ear was musically correct. Wood describes his de- 
portment to have been affable, and his gait erect and 
manly, bespeaking courage and undauntedness. Of 
his figure in his declining days Richardson has left 
the following sketches. " c An ancient clergyman of 
Dorsetshire, Dr. Wright, found John Milton in a 
small chamber hung with rusty green, sitting in an 
elbow chair, and dressed neatly in black, pale but not 
cadaverous/his hands and fingers gouty and with chalk 
stones. — He used also to sit in a gray coarse cloth 
coat, at the door of his house near Bunhill-fields, in 
warm sunny weather, to enjoy the fresh air ; and so, 
as well as in his room, received the visits of people 
of distinguished parts as well as quality." 

His domestick habits were those of a sober and 
temperate student. Of wine, or of any strong li- 
quours, he drank little. In his diet he was rarely 

b Aubrey says that *« he had a delicate tunable voice," and 
that u he pronounced the letter R very hard." 
c Life of Milton, 1734, p. iv. 



242 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

influenced by delicacy of choice ; illustrating his own 
admirable rule, Par. Lost, B. xi. 530. 

" The rule of Not too much ; by temperance taught 
* In what thou eat'st and drink'st ; seeking from thence 
" Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight." 

He once delighted in walking and using exercise ; 
and appears to have amused himself in botanical 
pursuits: but, after he was confined by age and 
blindness, he had a machine to swing in for the pre- 
servation of his health. In summer he then rested 
in bed from nine to four, in winter to five. If, at 
these hours, he was not disposed to rise, he had a 
person by his bed-side to read to him. When he 
first rose, he heard a chapter in the Hebrew Bible, 
and commonly studied till twelve ; then used some 
exercise for an hour ; then dined ; d afterwards played 
on the organ or bass-viol, and either sung himself or 
made his wife sing, who, he said, had a good voice 
but no ear. It is related that, when educating his 
nephews, " e he had made them songsters, and sing 
from the time they were with him." No poet, it 
may be observed, has more frequently or more pow- 

d See his own observations, in his treatise Of Education. 
" The interim of unsweating themselves regularly, and conve- 
nient rest before meat, may both with profit and delight be taken 
up in recreating and composing their travailed spirits with the 
solemn and divine harmonies of musick heard or learned, &c. 
The like also would not be unexpedient after meat, to assist and 
cherish nature in her first concoction, and send their minds back 
to study in good tune and satisfaction." 

e Aubreys Life of Milton. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON, 



243 



erfully commended the charms of musick than Mil- 
ton. He wished perhaps to rival, and he has suc- 
cessfully rivalled, the sweetest descriptions of a fa- 
vourite bard, whom the melting voice appears to 
have often enchanted ; the tender Petrarch. After 
his regular indulgence in musical relaxation, he stu- 
died till six ; then entertained his visitors till eight ; 
then enjoyed a light supper ; and, after a pipe of 
tobacco and a glass of water, retired to bed. / 

It has been remarked by Dr. Newton that all, who 
had written any accounts of the life of Milton, agreed 
that he was affable and instructive in conversation, of 
an equal and cheerful temper. I. Vossius and N. Hein- 
sius have borne their testimony also to this engaging 
part of his character. And Richardson has recorded 
the saying of the poet's youngest daughter, that her 
father " was delightful company, the life of the con- 
versation, and that on account of a flow of subject, 
and an unaffected cheerfulness and civility." Ri- 
chardson too relates, that Milton had also " a gra- 
vity in his temper, not melancholy, or not till the 
latter part of his life, not sour, not morose or ill- 
natured; but a certain severity of mind; a mind, 
not condescending to little things.' ' Dr. Newton 
adds his opinion " that the poet r\ad a sufficient 
sense of his own merits, and contempt enough for 
his adversaries." Milton indeed acknowledges his 
own " f honest haughtiness and self-esteem ; with 

f Prose- Works, vol. i. p. 177, ed. 1698. 
r2 



244 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

which, however, he professes to have united a becom- 
ing modesty. But from this self-esteem and honest 
haughtiness he certainly did descend to g lavish com- 
mendation on her, who, Mr. War ton observes, was 
" contemptible both as a queen and a woman," Christina 
of Sweden. Aubrey says, that he was satyrical. A 
remark, h already cited, pronounces him harsh and 
cholerich And an adversary joins to these unpleasing 
epithets, his i waspish spirit. To the bitterness, which 
perhaps exhibited him in this repulsive view, he had, 
however, no slight provocation. Yet he could for- 
give the provocation, and with forgiveness unite a 
very k extensive generosity. There seems also in 
his * letter to his friend Oldenburg, just before the 
restoration of monarchy, a kind of compunctious 
feeling for the severe and unmerciful attacks which 
he had made upon those, who had opposed his theo- 
logy or his politicks : "I am not willing," he says, 
" to compile a history of our troubles, as you wish ; 
for they appear to require oblivion rather than 
commemoration ; and our follies and crimes have 
long since inflicted a deeper wound upon our reli- 
gion than could have been made by our enemies." 
The scorn which he had sometimes exercised, and 



s In his Defensio Sec. and his Latin verses addressed to her. 

h See before, p. 90. 

1 As before, p. 93. 

k In the reception into his house of his pardoned wife's father 
and mother, and other relations. 

1 Epistolse Familiares, Ep. xxix. Henrico Oldenburgo. Dat. 
Westmon. Dec. 20, 1659. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 245 

the pride which was his principal fault, could thus 
yield, as at some other times they also yielded, to 
the influence of charitable and pious reflection. 

1 By controversy, and by the indulgence of early 
prejudices, Milton was undoubtedly soured. Hence 
he so often exhibits indignant as well as lofty anima- 
tion. But if the conceptions of his mind may be 
taken from his poetry, he cannot be thought to have 
been by nature unamiable. Of Milton too, however 
he might be mistaken in the means, the constant 
aim and end was liberty. Yet with the love of li- 
berty who will assert his attachment to Cromwell to 
have been consistent ? But he is supposed to have 
been deceived by the matchless hypocrisy of that 
usurper ; and, in the uprightness of his mind, not to 
have suspected the false dissembler as adverse to his 
own spirit of freedom. Still it may be wondered 
that he, who so well knew the nature of true liberty, 
which 



always with right reason dwells 



" Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being ;" 

it may be wondered that he, I say, should not have 
perceived the designs of the tyrant whom he served. 
Influenced by his uprightness, however, he offered 
to Cromwell, with undaunted zeal, a solemn and 
energetick m lesson of conduct. Yet with this man 
of power he appears to have possessed neither inti- 

"' Def. Sec. Prose- Works, vol. iii. p. 109, ed. 1698. 



246 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



macy nor interest ; and with others, the bold com- 
peers of Cromwell, he n asserts an acquaintance too 
slight to address them for any favour; while we 
must not forget, however, that he had, upon a ° for- 
mer occasion, applied to Bradshawe in behalf of 
Marvell. 

The theological opinions of Milton fall under our 
notice, more properly, in the remarks upon the trea- 
tise of Christian Doctrine, which form the greater 
part of a subsequent section, describing compositions 
left by him in manuscript. 

f His literature was immense. Even his adversaries 
admitted, that he was the " p most able and acute 
scholar living." With the Hebrew, and its two dia- 
lects, he was well acquainted ; and of the Greek, 
Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish languages, he 
was a master. In Latin, Dr. Johnson observes, his 
skill was such as places him in the first rank of 
writers and criticks. In the Italian he was also par- 
ticularly skilled. His Sonnets in that language have 
received the highest commendations from Italian cri- 



n In his letter to Peter Heimbach, who had solicited his recom- 
mendation to those in power for the office of secretary to our am- 
bassador in Holland : Milton answers, that he is sorry he cannot 
serve him " propter paucissimas familiaritates meas cum gratio- 
sis," &c. Epist. Fam. 27, Dat. Dec. 18, 1657. 

See his letter, from the State-Paper Office, p. 163. 

p The Dignity of Kingship, in Answer to Milton, &c. by G. S. 
1660, p. 5. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 247 

ticks, both of his own and of q modern times. If he 
had written generally in Italian, it has been supposed, 
by the late lord Orford, that he would have been the 
most perfect poet in modern languages ; for his own 
strength of thought would have condensed and 
hardened that speech to a proper degree. The Aca- 
demy Delia Crusca consulted him on the critical 
niceties of their language. In his early days indeed 
he had become deeply enamoured of " r the two 
famous renowners of Beatrice and Laura." It has 
been rightly remarked, that he read almost all 
authors, and improved by all: He himself relates, 
that his " round of study and reading was ceaseless." 
There is a delightful minuteness too in Milton, when 
his studies are the theme. He tells us, that " s his 
life had not been unexpensive in learning and voy- 
aging about." He tells us of " * the grave orators 
and historians, whose matter he loved ; and of the 
smooth elegiack poets, whom both for the pleasing 
sound of their numerous writing, (which in imitation 
he found most easy and most agreeable to nature's 
part in him,) and for their matter, he was so allured 
to read, that no recreation came to him better wel- 
come." He tells us, with a fine reflection also upon 
the fruits of study, that " u although he was not 



q See also Algarotti's ingenious criticism on his works. Opere 
del Conte Algarotti, Ven. 1794, torn. x. p. 39, &c. 
r Prose-Works, vol. i. p. 177, ed. 1698. 
s Apol. for Smectymnuus. j 
1 Ibid 
u Ibid. 



248 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

untrained in those rules which best rhetoricians have 
given, nor unacquainted with those examples which 
the prime authors of eloquence have written in any 
learned tongue ; yet true eloquence he found to be 
none, but the serious and hearty love of truth" 

His favourite book was the Book of God. To Mil- 
ton, when a child, Revelation opened not her richest 
stores in vain. To devotional subjects his infant 
strains were dedicated; and never did " his harp 
forget" to acknowledge the aids which he derived 
from the Muse of sacred inspiration. The remark 
of Gibbon that x the sublime genius of Milton was 
cramped by the system of our religion, and never 
appeared to so great an advantage as when he shook 
it a little off, falls before the just and admirable 
observation of Mr. Hayley; that, " if some pas- 
sionate admirers of antiquity seem to lament the fall 
of paganism, as fatal to poetry, to painting, and to 
sculpture, a more liberal and enlightened spirit of 
criticism may rather believe, what is very possible, I 
apprehend, to demonstrate, that Christianity can 
hardly be more favourable to the purity of morals, 
than it might be rendered to the perfection of these 
delightful arts. Milton himself may be regarded 
as an obvious and complete proof that the posi- 
tion is true as far as poetry is concerned'' The 
sanctity of manners too which his pages breathe, 
and the Christian lessons which they inculcate, 

* Essay on the Study of Literature, 1764, p. 24. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 249 

silence and put to shame a pretence, by which mo- 
dern Republicanism hoped to profit, of his being her 
auxiliary. To him " sight more detestable/' than 
the object of her hopes could not possibly be pre- 
sented. The designs of the crafty sensualist, and of 
the besotted ungrateful atheist, it was his constant 
endeavour, not to promote, but to overthrow. " It 
must gratify every Christian to reflect," Mr. Hayley 
observes, " that the man of our country most emi- 
nent for energy of mind, for intenseness of applica- 
tion, and for frankness and intrepidity in asserting 
whatever he believed to be the cause of truth, was 
so confirmedly devoted to Christianity, that he seems 
to have made the Bible, not only the rule of his con- 
duct, but the prime director of his genius." Yes, he 
says of himself, I am " y among the free and inge- 
nuous sort of such as evidently were born for study, 
and love learning for itself, not for lucre, or any other 
end but the service of God and truth, and perhaps 
that lasting fame and perpetuity of praise, which 
God and good men have consented shall be the re- 
ward of those, whose published labours advance the 
good of mankind." 

The classical books, in which he is represented to 
have most delighted, were Homer, Ovid's Metamor- 
phoses, and Euripides. The first he could almost 
entirely repeat. Of the last he is said to have been 
a reader, not only with the taste of a poet, but 

y In his Areopagitica. 



250 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

with the z minuteness of a Greek critick. His Euri- 
pides, in two volumes, Paul Stephens's quarto edition 
of 1602, with many marginal emendations in his own 
hand, has become the property of Mr. Cradock of 
Gumley in Leicestershire. Of these notes some have 
been adopted by Joshua Barnes, and some have been 
lately printed by Mr. Jodrell. In the first volume, 
page the first, is the name of John Milton, with the 
price of the book at 12*. 6d., and the date of the year 
1634. I have to notice the existence of another trea- 
sure, bearing also the same date, the price 3*., and 
the name of John Milton, written by himself on the 
blank page opposite the title ; his copy of Lycophron, 
with his own marginal observations. Of this re^ 
markable curiosity I received my information from 
Mr. Walker, by whom it had been a inspected in the 
library of lord Charlemont. From Milton himself 
we learn, that "the divine volumes of Plato and 
his equall Xenophon" were principal objects of his 
regard ; and that he preferred Sallust to all the Ro- 
man historians. Demosthenes has been supposed, 
by lord Monboddo and Mr. Hayley, to have been 
studied by him minutely and successfully. 

On contemporary authors Milton has bestowed 

2 See Warton's 2d edit, of the Smaller Poems, p. 568. And 
Jodrell's Illustrations of Euripides, 1781, pp. 34. 336. 

a My friend, the late Rev. Mr. Meen, was favoured with the 
use of this volume. And it was hoped, that his excellent version 
of Lycophron, accompanied with his own acute remarks, as well 
as Milton's marginal observations, on this author, would have 
been presented to the publick. But he is no more. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 251 

little praise. He has condescended more than once, 
as bishop Newton has observed, to applaud Selden. 
But I cannot agree with the learned prelate, that 
Milton seems disposed to censure rather than com- 
mend the rest. He has extolled, in his Areopa- 
gitica, the merits of lord Brooke, who had lately 
fallen in the service of the Parliament, and had writ- 
ten a treatise against the English episcopacy, and 
against the danger of Sects and Schisms, in terms 
of superabundant eulogy. He has also spoken of 
John Cameron, a learned divine and commentator, 
in terms of high respect ; calling him " b a late writer, 
much applauded, an ingenious writer, and in high 
esteem." And of Hartlib's literary character the 
Treatise of Education speaks largely. Hartlib also 
must be placed among Milton's " familiar learned 
acquaintance," as Aubrey calls Andrew Marvell, 
Cyriack Skinner, and Dr. Paget. And to these 
perhaps might be added Rouse and Vane. It is 
to be wondered that Milton, who has affection- 
ately recorded the good qualities of many friends, 
should have omitted to grace his pages with a 
tribute of respect to the name of Henry More, the 
celebrated Platonist, his fellow-collegian ; by whom 
Mr. Warton supposes him to have been led to the 
study of the divine philosophy, and of whose 
poetry, I am satisfied, he was an attentive reader. 
But one friend yet remains to be noticed, who 
had been the pupil of Milton, to whom he ap- 

b In his Tetrachordon. 



252 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

pears to have rendered essential service, and of 
whom he presents a very estimable character. This 
person was Richard Heath, of Christ College, Cam- 
bridge, whom the biographers of Milton have over- 
passed. He was a man of great learning, accom- 
plished in the Eastern tongues, and d serviceable to 
bishop Walton in his immortal work, the London 
Polyglot Bible. He became a non-conformist in 
1662, and died some years before Milton. 

The political principles of Milton were those of a 
thorough republican ; which have been ascribed, by 
Dr. Johnson, to a native violence of temper, and to 
a hatred of all whom he was required to obey. The 
frequent asperity of this eminent biographer towards 
Milton, has been repeatedly noticed, by Mr. Hayley, 
with reprehension and regret ; and, in the following 
instance, with eloquence, dignity, and instruction. 

" There can hardly be any contemplation more 
painful, than to dwell on the virulent excesses of 
eminent and good men ; yet the utility of such con- 
templation may be equal to its pain. What mild- 
ness and candour should it not instil into ordinary 
mortals to observe, that even genius and virtue 
weaken their title to respect, in proportion as they 
recede from that evangelical charity, which should 
influence every man in his judgement of another. 

c See his Epist. Famil. Ep. xiii. Richardo Hetho. Dat. West- 
mon. Dec. 13, 1652. 

d Memoirs of Bishop Walton, &c. 1821, p. 268 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 253 

The strength and the acuteness of sensation, which 
partly constitute genius, have a great tendency to 
produce virulence, if the mind is not perpetually on 
its guard against that subtle, insinuating, and cor- 
rosive passion, hatred against all whose opinions are 
opposite to our own. Johnson professed, in one of 
his letters, to love a good hater ; and, in the Latin 
correspondence of Milton, there are words that im- 
ply a similarity of sentiment; they both thought 
there might be a sanctified bitterness, to use an ex- 
pression of Milton, towards political and religious 
opponents ; yet surely these two devout men were 
both wrong, and both in some degree unchristian in 
this principle. To what singular iniquities of judge- 
ment such a principle may lead, we might, perhaps, 
have had a most striking, and a double proof, had it 
been possible for these two energetick writers to ex- 
hibit alternately a portrait of each other. Milton, 
adorned with every graceful endowment, highly and 
holily accomplished as he was, appears, in the dark 
colouring of Johnson, a most unamiable being ; but 
could he revisit earth in his mortal character, with 
a wish to retaliate, what a picture might be drawn, 
by that sublime and offended genius, of the great 
moralist, who has treated him with such excess of 
asperity. The passions are powerful colourists, and 
marvellous adepts in the art of exaggeration ; but 
the portraits executed by Love (famous as he is for 
overcharging them) are infinitely more faithful to 
nature, than gloomy sketches from the heavy hand 
of Hatred ; a passion not to be trusted or indulged 



254 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

even in minds of the highest purity or power ; since 
Hatred, though it may enter the field of contest 
under the banner of justice, yet generally becomes 
so blind and outrageous, from the heat of contention, 
as to execute, in the name of virtue, the worst pur- 
poses of vice. Hence arises that species of calumny 
the most to be regretted, the calumny lavished by 
men of talents and worth on their equals or supe- 
riours, whom they have rashly and blindly hated for 
a difference of opinion. To such hatred the fervid 
and opposite characters, who gave rise to this obser- 
vation, were both more inclined, perhaps, by nature 
and by habit, than Christianity can allow. The free- 
dom of these remarks on two very great, and equally 
devout, though different writers, may possibly offend 
the partizans of both : in that case my consolation 
will be, that I have endeavoured to speak of them 
with that temperate though undaunted sincerity, 
which may satisfy the spirit of each in a purer state 
of existence." 

The circumstances of Milton were never very 
affluent. The estate left him by his father was but 
small. In the civil war he is said to have sustained 
the loss of a considerable sum, which he had lent 
to the Parliament. As Secretary to the Council he 
e enjoyed, while without an associate in the office, 
the annual sum of nearly three hundred pounds ; a 



e See the different sums, in the preceding orders of council, 
which were officially allowed him, pp. 157. 169. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 255 

sum, which was lowered, when Philip Meadowes 
and Andrew Marvell were his fellow-secretaries. He 
is said to have possessed an estate also, or rather 
perhaps an allowance out of the estates, of about 
sixty pounds a year, which belonged to the plun- 
dered Abbey of Westminster. It was not uncom- 
mon, during the Usurpation, to portion, out of the 
lands of deans and chapters and other ecclesiasticks, 
individuals with pensions. Of these revenues, as 
well as two thousand pounds which he had placed 
in the excise-office, he was deprived at the Restora- 
tion. He had before lost two thousand pounds by 
entrusting the sum to a scrivener ; and, in the fire 
of London, his house in Bread-street was burnt. 
To Milton, however, the deficiency of wealth was 
little disappointment. Of his unsubdued spirit the 
following anecdote has been related. " f Soon after 
the Restoration," he is said to have borrowed fifty 
pounds of Jonathan Hartop, of Aldborough, near 
Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire, who died in 1791, at 
the great age of 138. He " returned the loan with 
honour, though not without much difficulty, as his 
circumstances were very low. Mr. Hartop would 
have declined receiving it ; but the pride of the poet 
was equal to his genius, and he sent the money with 
an angry letter, which was found among the curious 
possessions of that venerable old man." 

f Easton's Human Longevity, printed at Salisbury, 1799, pp. 
241, 242. This curious anecdote had appeared in the Wolver- 
h'ampton Chronicle and Staffordshire Advertiser of Mar. 31, 1790, 
Mr. Hartop being then living, and the letter described as extant. 



256 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

The paucity of Milton's wants, and the frugal 
management of what he retained, enabled him indeed 
to live without distress. Of the property, which he 
left, the publication of his Nuncupative Will has rec- 
tified the mistaken accounts, given by all his biogra- 
phers before Mr. Hayley. And of this curious 
document with the interesting notes of Mr. Warton 
who first published it, and with some important 
additions, the next section of the present biography 
consists. 

Of Milton's family I will here subjoin a brief 
account. All his biographers notice his younger 
brother, Christopher, and his sister, Anne. Of two 
other sisters the existence has never been related. I 
have found, however, in the register of All-hallows 
Bread-street, the g births of Sarah and Tabitha Mil- 
ton, and the death only of Sarah, to be there re- 
corded. 

Christopher was a royalist, and became, long after 
his brother's death, a judge. In the Rebellion he 
had compounded for his estate ; and h among the 

* " The xv th daye of July 1612 was baptized Sara, the 
dawghter of John Mylton, scrivener. She was buried the vi th 
of August following in the church. 

" The XXX th of January, 1613, [that is 1613-14,] was bap- 
tized Tabitha, the dawghter of Mr. John Mylton. 

" The third daye of December 1615 was baptized Christo- 
pher, the sonne of John Mylton of this pishe, scrivenor.'* 
Extracts from the Register. 

h Second Series, vol. xiv. No. 732. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 257 

Royalists' Composition-Papers, in his Majesty's State- 
Paper-Office, his fine and the circumstances attending 
it, as in the case of Milton's ! father-in-law, are left 
upon record, and are too curious to be omitted. 

" Christopher Milton, of Reddinge in the County 
of Berks Esq r . Councellor at Lawe. His Delin- 
quency, that he w r as a Commissioner for the Kinge, 
under the Great Seale of Oxford, for sequestringe the 
Parliament's friends of three Countyes; and after- 
wards went to Excester, and lived there, and was there 
at the tyme of the surrender, and is to have the be- 
nefitt of those Articles, as by the Deputy Governor's 
Certificate of that place of the 16 th of May 1646 doth 
appeare. He hath taken the Nationall Covenant be- 
fore William Barton Minister of John Zacharies the 
20 th of April 1646, and the Negative Oath heere the 
8 th August 1646. He compounds upon a Pellicular 
delivered in under his hand, by which he doth submit 
to such fine &c. and by which it doth appeare : 

" That he is seized in fee, to him and his heirs in pos- 
session, of and in a certain Messuage or Tenement sci- 
tuate in St. Martin's Parish Ludgate, called the Signe 
of the Crosse Keys, and was of the Yeerely Value, be- 
fore theis troubles, 40/. Personal estate he hath none. 

7 x ( Will. Thomson. 
"(Signed) J Fineat3dis200 ^ 

7X C25 th August, 1646. 
" (Signed) l T ? 

°. (.Jerom Alexander. 

1 See before, p. .68, seq. 



258 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" To the Honorable Committee for Compositions 
with Delinquents sittinge at Goldsmith's Hall. 

" The humble Petition of Christopher Milton of 
Reddinge in the County of Berks Esq r . Shewinge, 

" That he executed a Commission of Sequestra- 
tions under the Great Seale at Oxford for three 
Countyes, ,and was at Exeter at the tyme of the 
Surrender thereof late made unto the Parliamente. 
And humbly prayes, that he may be admitted to 
compound, and to receive the benefitt of those Arti- 
cles, 

" And he shall pray, &c. 
(Signed) " Christopher Milton. 

f* 7 August 1646. 

" Refer'd to the Sub-Committee. 

" A true Perticular of all the Estate, reall and 
personall, of me Christopher Milton of Reddinge in 
the County of Berks, a Councellor at Lawe. 

" That I am seized in fee, to mee and my heires in 
possession, of and in a certaine Messuage or Tene- 
mente scituate, standinge, and beinge within St. 
Martin's Parish Ludgate, called the Signe of the 
Cross Keyes, and was of the Yeerely value before 
theis troubles 40/. Personal estate I have none but 
what hath bin seized and taken from mee, and con- 
verted to the use of the State. 

" This is a true Perticuler of all my estate, reall 
and personally for which I onely desire to compound 
to free it out of sequestration ; and doe submitt unto, 
and undertake to satisfye and pay, such fine as by 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 259 

this Committee for Compositions with Delinquents 
shall be imposed and sett to pay for the same, in order 
to the freedome and dischardge of my person and 
estate. 

(Signed) " Chr. Milton." . 

This declaration is followed by certificates that he 
took the requisite oath, and that he had resided in 
Exeter seven months before the surrender of it to 
Fairfax. The final mention of his case is, that it was 
" reported 21 December, 1649, and that the fine (as 
already noticed) was 200/." 

This brother of Milton was knighted by James 
the second. He had long k resided in Ipswich, and 
is said to have fitted up a part of the mansion, which 
at one time belonged to the ancient family of Wing- 
field, for the celebration of the Roman Catholick 
worship ; as he was professedly a papist. To a 
mansion in the village of Rushmere, (about two miles 
distant,) now called the White House, he then re- 
moved, and there died. He was l buried in the 
church of St. Nicholas in the town of Ipswich. In 

k What follows relating to Sir Christopher Milton, has been 
obligingly communicated to me by a learned friend, now resident 
at Ipswich, the Rev. James Ford, Fellow of Trinity College, 
Oxford. 

1 Parish Regist. of St. Nicholas, " 1692. March 22, Sir 
Christopher Melton of Rushmore was buried in the church of 
this parish." In the Reg. of Baptisms in St. Nicholas' Parish 
also, the baptism of his daughter Mary, March 29, 1656, is en- 
tered. 

s2 



260 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the charter granted to this town, 36 Charles 
II. it may be added, he had been nominated and 
constituted the first and new deputy-recorder 
of it. 

Anne, the sister of Milton, must have been elder 
than either of her brothers ; for her birth is not to 
be found in the register already mentioned : She was 
probably the eldest child, and born before her father 
settled in Bread-street. Milton's Verses on her 
daughter, written in his seventeenth year, serve to 
corroborate this supposition. She was first married 
to Mr. Phillips, afterwards to Mr. Agar, a friend of 
her first husband, who succeeded him in the Crown- 
Office of the Court of Chancery. By her first hus- 
band she had two sons, Edward and John, whom 
Milton educated ; by her second, two daughters. 
His brother, Christopher, had two daughters, Mary 
and Catherine ; and a son, Thomas, who succeeded 
Mr. Agar in his office. Of Milton's children who 
survived him, and of his widow Elizabeth, the notes 
on the Nuncupative Will give a distinct, and, in 
some respects, a new account. The several branches 
of his family appear to be now extinct. The case of 
Deborah, the youngest, which Mr. Warton deplores 
with sensibility, was m first noticed in a very feeling 
manner also, in Misfs Weekly Journal, April 29, 
1727, and commended her to part of the little pa- 
tronage which she obtained. While it has been ob- 

"' It is also printed in the European Magazine for 1787, p. 65. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 261 

served, that the Nuncupative Will of Milton presents 
indeed a melancholy picture of domestick connexions, 
and that his conduct towards his daughters has been 
feelingly defended even by an eminent female pen ; 
it has not been noticed, that part of the charge 
brought against him, I mean his teaching his chil- 
dren to read and pronounce Greek and several other 
languages without understanding any but English, 
may be thought more strange and unaccountable, in- 
asmuch as he appears to have been distinguished for 
the estimation in which he once held literary women ; 
a circumstance which no biographer of Milton has 
hitherto recorded. Doctor Newton, indeed, face- 
tiously tells us, that Milton used to say that one 
tongue was enough for a woman ! But contemporary 
information will best illustrate this curious point in 
the history of the poet. " n We believe," says the 
answerer to his Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, 
" you count no woman to due conversation acces- 
sible, as to you, except she can speak Hebrew, 
Greek, Latine, and French, and dispute against 
the Canon law as well as you, or at least be able 
to hold discourse with you. But other gentlemen 
of good qualitie are content with meaner and fewer 
endowments, as you know well enough." — I now 
recur to the defence of Milton by the distinguished 
lady, who speaking of the modern revolutionary 
spirit in families, and elegantly enforcing the sub- 
ordination of domestick manners, argues " that, 

n Answer to the Doct. and Disc, of Divorce, 1644, p. 16. 



262 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

° among the faults with which it has been too much 
the fashion of recent times to load the memory of 
the incomparable Milton, one of the charges brought 
against his private character (for with his political 
character we have here nothing to do) has been, 
that he was so severe a father as to have compelled 
his daughters, after he was blind, to read aloud to 
him, for his sole pleasure, Greek and Latin authors 
of which they did not understand a word. But this 
is in fact nothing more than an instance of the strict 
domestick regulations of the age in which Milton 
lived ; and should not be brought forward as a proof 
of the severity of his individual temper. Nor indeed 
in any case should it ever be considered as a hard- 
ship for an affectionate child to amuse an afflicted 
parent, even though it should be attended with a 
heavier sacrifice of her own pleasure than in the pre- 
sent instance." 

° Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education, by 
Mrs. Hannah More, vol. i. p. 147, 6th edit. 1799. 



SECTION VII. 



The a Nuncupative Will of Milton : with Notes by the late 
Rev. Thomas Warton, and other Observations. 

u b Memorandum, that John Milton, late of the 
parish of St. Giles Cripplegate in the Countie of 
Middlesex Gentleman, deceased, at severall times 
before his death, and in particular, on or about the 
twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord God 
1674, being of perfect mind and memorie, declared 
his Will and intent as to the disposall of his estate 
after his death, in these words following, or of like 
effect : The portion due to me from Mr. Powell, 
my former wife's father, I leave to the unkind chil- 
dren I had by her, having received no parte of it : 
but my meaning is, they shall have no other benefit 
of my estate than the said portion, and what I have 
besides done for them ; they having been very undu- 
tifull to me. All the residue of my estate I leave to 
£the] disposall of Elizabeth my loving wife. Which 

a First published by Mr. Warton, in his edit, of Milton's 
Smaller Poems, 1791. Todd. 

b As propounded in the Prerogative Court. Warton. 



264 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

words, or to the same effect, were spoken in the 
presence of Christopher Milton c . 

" X pVtark of]] Elizabeth Fisher d . 
" Nov. 23, 1674 e . 

I. 

The Allegation propounding the Will, on which 
Allegation the Witnesses be examined*. 

" Negotium Testamentarium, sive probacionis Tes- 

c John Milton's younger brother: a strong royalist, and a 
professed papist. After the civil war, he made his composition 
through his brother's interest. Being a practitioner in the law, 
he lived to be an ancient Bencher of the Inner Temple : was 
made a judge of the Common Pleas, and knighted by king James 
the second ; but, on account of his age and infirmities, he was at 
length dismissed from business, and retired to Ipswich, where he 
resided all the latter part of his life. Warton. 

But see what I have said of him in the preceding account of 
Milton, pp. 256, seq. Todd. 

d A servant-maid of John Milton. Warton. 

e Registr. Cur. Prserog. Cant. This Will was contested by 
Mary, Deborah, and Anne Milton, daughters of the poet's first 
wife Mary, daughter of Mr. Richard Powel, of Foresthill in Ox- 
fordshire. The cause came to a regular sentence, which was given 
against the Will ; and the Widow, Elizabeth, was ordered to 
take Administration instead of a Probate. I must add here, that 
this cause, the subject of which needed no additional lustre from 
great names, was tried by that upright and able statesman, Sir 
Leoline Jenkins, Judge of the Prerogative Court, and Secretary 
of State ; and that the depositions were taken in part before Dr. 
Trumbull, afterwards Sir William Trumbull, Secretary of State, 
and the celebrated friend of Pope. As a circumstantial and au- 
thentick history of this process, the following instruments, which 
were otherwise thought too curious to be suppressed, are sub- 
joined. Waiiton. 

f Viz. Christopher Milton, and John Milton's two ser- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 265 

tamenti nuncupative sive ultimas Voluntatis, Johan- 
nis Milton, nuper dum vixit parochiae S. iEgidii 
Cripplegate London generosi, defuncti, habent. &c. 
promotum per Elizabetham Milton s Relictam, et 

vant-maids Elizabeth and Mary Fisher. Witnesses on the part 
of the widow. Warton. 

8 This was his third wife, Elizabeth Minshull, of a gentle- 
man's family in Cheshire. He married her at the recommendation 
of his friend, and her relation, Dr. Paget, about the year 1661, 
and in his fifty-fourth year, soon after he had obtained his pardon 
from the restored king ; being now blind and infirm, and wanting 
some more constant and confidential companion than a servant to 
attend upon his person. The elder Richardson insinuates, that 
this lady, being no poet or philosopher like her husband, used fre- 
quently to teaze him for his carelessness or ignorance about money- 
matters, and that she was a termagant.^ He adds, that soon after 
their marriage, a royal offer was made to Milton of the resump- 
tion of his old department of Latin Secretary, and that, being 
strongly pressed by his wife to an acceptance, he scornfully re- 
plied, " Thou art in the right ; you, as other women, would ride 
in your Coach. My aim is to live and die an honest man." Life, 
&c. p. xcix. seq. edit. 1734. From these papers, however, it 
appears, that she consulted her husband's humours, and treated his 
infirmities with tenderness. After his death in 1674, she retired 
to Namptwich in Cheshire, where she died about 1729. Mr. 
Pennant says, her father, Mr. Minshull, lived at Stoke in that 
neighbourhood. W. Tour, and Gough's Camden, Cheshire, 
p. 436. The third edition of Paradise Lost was published in 
1678 : and this is the poet's widow, to whom the copy of that 
work was then to devolve by original agreement, but who 
sold all her claims to Samuel Simmons, his bookseller, for 
eight pounds, according to her receipt given Decemb. 21, 
1680. Warton. 

Among the letters of Mr. G. Grey to his brother Dr. Zach. 
Grey, was the following notice of this lady's death, which was 
obligingly communicated to me by J. Nichols, Esq. from the ori- 
ginal in his possession : " There were three widow Miltons there, 



266 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Legatariam principalem nominatam in Testamento 
nuncupativo, sive ultima Voluntate, dicti defuncti, 
contra Mariam, Annam, et Deboram Milton, filias 
dicti defuncti. 

" Thompson. Clements. 

" Secundo Andreae, A. D. 1674. Quo die 

Thompson, nomine, procuratione, ac ultimus pro- 
curator legitimus, dictae Elizabethse Milton, omni- 
bus melioribus et effectualioribus [efficacioribus^ via, 
modo, et meliori forma, necnon ad omnem juris 
effectum, exhibuit Testamentum nuncupativum dicti 
Johannis Milton defuncti, sic incipiens, ( Memo- 
randum, that John Milton, late of the parish of 
S. Giles, Cripplegate,' &c. Which words, or words 
to the same effect, were spoken in the presence of 
Christopher Milton, and Elizabeth Fisher ; et alle- 
gavit consimiliter, et dicens prout sequitur. I. Quod 
prsefatus Johannes Milton, dum vixit, mentis com- 
pos, ac in sua sana memoria existens, .... Testa- 
mentum suum nuncupativum modo in hoc negotio 
exhibitum .... tenoris schedulse .... testamentarias 
condidit, nuncupavit, et declaravit ; cseteraque omnia 
et singula dedit, donayit, reliquit, et disposuit, in 
omnibus, et per omnia, vel similiter in effectum, 
prout in dicto Testamento nuncupativo continetur, 

(at Nantwich) viz. the poet's widow, my aunt, and another. 
The poet's widow died last summer." Dated July 30, 1731. 
But this must have been a mistake of the writer. Milton's widow, 
it indisputably appears, died in 1727. See a subsequent note on 
this Will. This lady also was married to Milton not in 1661, but 
in 1665. See what is before said in p. 186. Todd. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 267 

ac postea mortem obiit : ac Principalis Pars ista pro- 
ponit conjunctim, divisim, et de quolibet. II. Item, 
quod tempore conditionis, declarations, nuncupa- 
tionis Testamenti, in hoc negotio exhibiti, praefatus 
Johannes Milton perfecta fruebatur memoria ; ac 
proponit ut supra h . 

II. 

Interrogatories addressed to the Witnesses 
examined upon the Allegation. 

" Decemb. 5, 1674. Interrogatoria ministrata et 
ministranda ex parte Annas, Mariae, et Deborae 
Milton, testibus ex parte Elizabethan Milton pro- 
ductis sive producendis sequuntur. 

" Imprimis, Aske each witnesse, what relation to, 
or dependance on, the producent, they, or either 
of them, have ; and to which of the parties they 
would give the victory were it in their power ? Et 
interrogatur quilibet testis conjunctim, et divisim, et 
de quolibet. 

" 2. Item, Aske each witnesse, what day, and 
what time of the day, the Will nuncupative was de- 
clared ; what positive words did the deceased use in 
the declaring thereof? Can you positively swear, 
that the deceased did declare that hee did leave the 
residue of his estate to the disposall of his wife, or 

h Registr. Cur, Prserog. Cant, ut supr. Warton. 



268 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

did hee not say, ' I will leave the residue of my es- 
tate to my wife V Etjiat ut supra. 

" 3. Item, Upon what occasion did the deceased 
declare the said Will ? Was not the deceased in per- 
fect health at the same time ? Doe you not think, 
that the deceased, if he declared any such Will, de- 
clared it in a present passion, or some angry humour 
against some or one of his children by his former 
[[first]] wife ? Etjiat ut supra. 

" 4. Item, Aske each witnesse, whether the par- 
ties ministrant were not and are not greate frequent- 
ers of the Church, ' and good livers ; and what cause 
of displeasure had the deceased against them ? Ef 
fiat ut supra. 

" 5. Item, Aske Mr. [[Christopher]] Milton, and 
each other witnesse, whether the deceased's Will, if 
any such was made, was not, that the deceased's 
wife should have £.1000, and the children of the 
said Christopher Milton the residue ; and whether 
she hath not promised him that they should have it, 

1 Here seems to be an insinuation, that our poet's displeasure 
against those three daughters, arose partly from their adherence 
to those principles ; which, in preference to his own, they had 
received, or rather inherited, from their mother's family, who 
were noted and active royalists. Afterwards, the description 
good livers is not to be understood in its general and proper sense, 
which could not have offended Milton ; but as arising from what 
went before, and meaning much the same thing, that is, regular 
in their attendance on the established worship. Warton. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 269 

if shee prevailed in this Cause ? Whether the said 
Mr. Milton hath not since the deceased's death 
confessed soe much, or some part thereof? Etfiat ut 
supra. 

" 6. Item, Aske each witnesse, whether what is 
left to the ministrants by the said Will is not re- 
puted a very bad or altogether desperate debt k 1 Et 
fiat ut supra. 

" 7. Aske the said Mr. Milton, whether he did 

k That is, the marriage portion, promised, but never paid, to 
John Milton, by Mr. Richard Powell, the father of his first 
wife; and which the said John bequeathed to the daughters of 
that match, the ministrants, Anne, Mary, and Deborah. They 
were married in 1643. I have now before me an original " In- 
ventorie of the goods of Mr. Richard Powell of Forresthill, in 
the county of Oxon, taken the 10th of June, A. D. 1646." 
This seems to have been taken in consequence of a seizure of 
Mr. Powell's house by the rebels. His distresses in the royal 
cause probably prevented the payment of his daughter's marriage 
portion. By the number, order, and furniture of the rooms, he 
appears to have lived as a country gentleman, in a very extensive 
and liberal style of house-keeping. This I mention to confirm 
what is said by Phillips, that Mr. Powell's daughter abruptly left 
her husband within a month after their marriage, disgusted with 
his spare diet and hard study, " after having been used at home 
to a great house, and much company and joviality," &c. I have 
also seen in Mr. Powell's house at Foresthill many papers, which 
show the active part he took in favour of the Royalists : With 
some others relating to the Rangership of the Shotover forest, 
bearing his signature. Warton. 

See my concluding note upon the present document. See 
also what is said, in the preceding pages, of Milton's marriage 
with Mary Powell, and of her family. Todd. 



270 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

not gett the said Will drawn upp, and inform the 
writer to what effect he should draw it ? And did 
he not enquire of the other witnesses, what they 
would or could depose ? And whether he hath not 
solicited this Cause, and pay'd fees to the Proctour 
about it ? Etfiat ut supra. 

" 8. Item, Aske each witnesse, what fortune the 
deceased did in his life-time bestowe on the mini- 
strants ? And whether the said Anne Milton is not 
lame, and almost l helplesse ? Etfiat ut supra. 

" 9. Item, Aske each witnesse, what value is the 
deceased's estate of, as neare as they can guess ? Et 
fiat ut supra m . 



III. 



Depositions and cross-examinations of the said 
Witnesses. 

" Elizabetha Milton, Relicta et Legataria princi- 
palis Johannis Milton defuncti, contra Annam, 
Mariam, et Deboram Milton, filias ejusdem de- 
functi. Super Allegatione articulata et Testamento 
nuncupativo Johannis Milton defuncti, ex parte 

1 She was deformed, and had an impediment in her speech. 
His grand-daughter Elizabeth Foster by the third daughter 
Deborah, often spoke of his harshness to his daughters, and that 
he refused to have them taught to write. Warton. 

m Registr. Cur. Proerog. Cant, ut supr. Warton. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 271 

Elizabethae Milton predictas, in hoc negotio, se- 
cundo Andreas, 1674, dato n et exhibitis. 

" Quinto Decembris 1674. Christopherus Mil- 
ton villas Gipwici in com. Suffolciae, ortus infra pa- 
rochiam Omnium Sanctorum Bredstreete, London, 
aetat. 58 annor. aut eo circiter, testis, &c. Ad omnes 
articulos dictse Allegationis, et ad Testamentum 
nuncupativum Johannis Milton, generosi, defuncti, 
in hoc negotio dat. et exhibit, deponit et dicit, That 
on, or about the twentieth day of July, 1674, the 
day certaine he now remembreth not, this deponent 
being a practicer in the Law, and a Bencher in the 
Inner Temple, but living in vacations at Ipswich, 
did usually at the end of the Terme visit John Mil- 
ton, his this deponent's brother the Testator articu- 
late, deceased, before his going home ; and soe at 
the end of Midsummer Terme last past, he this de- 
ponent went to visit his said brother, and then found 
him in his chamber within his owne house, situate 
on Bunhill within the parish of S. Giles, Crepel- 

n Sic, utet infra, pro Milton. Warton. 

° Sometimes called the Artillery-walk, leading to Bunhill 
fields. This was his last settled place of abode, and where he 
lived longest. Richardson calls this house a " small house, 
where he died about fourteen years after he was out of publick 
employ." Ubi supr. p. xciii. It was here that he wrote or 
finished Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Ago- 
nistes. But in 1665, when the plague broke out in London, he 
retired to Chalfont Saint Giles, where his friend Elwood, a 
quaker, had taken a house for him ; and the next year, when the 
danger was over, he came back to Bunhill-fields. The house at 
Chalfont, in which he resided in this short space of time, and 



272 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

gate, London: And at that tyme, he the said Tes- 
tator, being not well, (and this deponent being then 
going into the country,) in a serious manner, with 
an intent, (as he believes,) that what he then spoke 
should be his Will, if he dyed before his this depo- 
nent's coming the next time to London, declared his 
Will in these very words as neare as this deponent 
cann now call to mynd, viz. Brother, the portion 
due to me from Mr. Powell, my former [[first] 
wif e' s father , Heave to the unkind children I had 
by her : but I have receaved noe part of it, and 
my Will and meaning is, they shall have noe 
other benefit of my estate, than the said portion 
and what I have besides don for them : they have- 
ing been very undutiful to me. And all the resi- 
due of my estate I leave to the disposall of Eliza- 
beth my loveing wife. She, the said Elizabeth his 
the deceased's wife, and Elizabeth Fysher his the 
deceased's then maide-servant, was [[at the] same 
tyme goeing upp and downe the roome, but whether 



where he planned or began Paradise Regained, is still standing, 
small, but pleasantly situated. See Elwood's Life of Himself, 
p. 246. Who calls it " a pretty box." Warton. 

Mr. Dunster, in the additions to his edition of Paradise Re- 
gained, remarks that the house is not pleasantly situated. " The 
adjacent country is indeed extremely pleasant ; but the imme- 
diate spot is as little picturesque or pleasing as can be well 
imagined. Immediately in front of the house, a grass field rises 
so abruptly as completely to exclude all prospect : and the com- 
mon road of the village passes by the gable end, adjoining to 
which is the end of a small dwelling, which runs behind that in- 
habited by Milton." Todd. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 273 

she then heard the said deceased, so declare his Will 
as above or not, he knoweth not. 

" And the said testator at the premises was of 
perfect mind and memory and talked and discoursed 
sensibly and well, et aliter nescit deponere. 

" Chr. Milton. 



" Ad Interrogatoria. 

" Ad l m - Interr. respondet, that the party pro- 
ducent in this cause was and is the relict of the said 
deceased, who was his this respondent's brother ; and 
the parties ministring these interrogatories were and 
are in repute, and soe he beleeveth, his the said de- 
ceased's children by a former wife : and for his part, 
he wisheth right to take place, and soe would give 
it if in his power ; and likewise wisheth that his bro- 
ther's Will might take effect. 

" Ad 2 m - Interr. respondet, that on what day of 
the moneth or weeke the said deceased declared his 
Will, as is above deposed, he now remembreth 
not precisely ; but well remembreth, that it was in a 
forenoone, and on the very day he this deponent was 
goeing in the country in []the] Ipswich coach, which 
goeth not out of towne till noone or thereabout ; and 
he veryly beleeveth in his conscience, that the resi- 
due of his estate he did then dispose of in these very 
words, viz. And all the residue of my estate I 



274 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

leave to the disposall of Elizabeth my loving 
wife ; or he used words to the selfe-same effect, et 
aliter referendo se ad pre-depos. nescit respon- 
dere. 

" Ad 3 m ' Interr. respondet, that the said deceased 
was then ill of the goute, and what he then spake 
touching his Will was in a very calme manner ; only 
[[he]] complained, but without passion, that his chil- 
dren had been unkind to him, but that his wife had 
been very kind and careful of him ; and he believeth 
the only reason induced the said deceased at that 
time to declare his Will was, that he this deponent 
might know it before his goeing into the country, 
et aliter referendo se ad pre-deposita nescit re- 



" Ad 4 m * Interr, respondet, that he knoweth not 
how the parties ministring these interrogatories fre- 
quent the church, or in what manner of behaviour 
of life and conversacion they are of, they living apart 
from their father four or five yeares last past, and 
as touching his the deceased's displeasure with them, 
he only heard him say at the tyme of declareing of 
his Will, that they were undutifull and unkind to 
him, not expressing any particulars ; but in former 
tymes he hath herd him complaine, that they were 
careless of him being blind, and made nothing of 
p deserteing him, et aliter nescit respondere. 

V This desertion is in part explained by his nephew Phillips, 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 275 

" Ad 5 m - Interr. respondet, that since this respon- 
dent's comeing to London this Michaelmas Terme 
last paste, this respondent's sister, the party now 
producent in this cause, told this respondent, that 
the deceased his brother did after his this respon- 
dent's goeing into the country in Trinity vacacion 
last summer [[say J that, if she should have any over- 
plus above a 1000/. come to her hands of his the 
deceased's estate, she should give the same to this 
respondent's children : but the deceased himselfe did 
not declare any such thing to this respondent at the 
tyme of his declaring his Will, the tyme above de- 
posed of. 

" Ad 6 m * Interr. respondet, that he beleeveth that 
what is left to the parties ministring these interroga- 
tories by the said deceased's Will, is in the hands of 
persons of ability abell to pay the same, being their 
grandmother and uncle ; and he hath seen the grand- 
father's Will, wherein 'tis particularly directed to be 
paid unto them by his executors, et aliter nescit 
respondere. 

and after him by Toland : That he taught these young women to 
read and pronounce with great exactness the English, Italian, 
Spanish, French, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages ; that 
one or other of them was forced occasionally to read books in 
each language to him, though neither of them understood more 
than their mother tongue ; that this drudgery could not but ren- 
der them in time uneasy; and that accordingly they were all, even 
the eldest, dispensed with their duty in this case, and sent out to 
learn other things suitable to their sex and condition. For their 
neglect, their being careless, of their blind parent, I can find no 
palliation, Todd. 

t 2 



276 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" Ad 7 m * Interr. respondet, that he this respon- 
dent did draw upp the very Will executed in this 
cause, and write it with his owne hand, when he 
came to this court, about the 23d of November last 
past, and at that tyme this respondent did read the 
same all over to Elizabeth Fisher, the said deceased's 
late maid servant, and she said she remembered the 
same, and in confirmation whereof set her marke 
thereto in manner as on the same Will executed in 
this cause is now to be seen. And this respondent 
waited on the said deceased's widdow once at Doc- 
tor Exton's chambers about this suite, at which tyme 
she wanted some halfe crownes, and this respondent 
lent her then two halfe crownes, but more he hath 
at noe tyme paid either to Doctor or Proctor in this 
cause. 

" Ad 8 m# Interr. respondet, that he knoweth of 
noe fortune given by the said deceased to the parties 
ministring these interrogatories, besides the portion 
which he was promised with his former wife in mar- 
riage, being a 1000Z. which is still unpaid besides 
the interest thereof for about twenty yeares, saveing 
his charges in their maintenance and breeding, et 
aliter nescit respondere, saveing that Anne Milton 
interr. is lame and helples. 

" Ad ult. reddit causas scientiae suae ut supra. 
" Die prid. repetit. cor. Doctore Lloyd, Surrog. 

" Chk. Milton. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 277 

Sup.All nis .aftic.etTes- 

tamento nuncupativo 

Johan. Milton de- 
Milton con. Ihompson. 

MiltonetMilton,Clements.< functi ex parte Eliza- 

bethas Milton in hu- 
jusmodi Causa dat. 
et admiss. examinat. 



" 15° Dec. 1674. 

* Maria Fisher, soluta famul. domestica Johan. 
Batten habitan. in vico vocat. Bricklane in Old 
Streete ubi moram fecit per spacium sex heb- 
domadarum aut eo circiter, antea cum Benja- 
mino Whitcomb Mercatore habitan. in vico 
vocat. Coleman Streete London per spacium 
3m. mensium, antea cum Guiddon Culcap infra 
locum vocat. Smock Alley prope Spittlefields 
per spacium unius anni, aut eo circiter, antea 
cum Johanne Bayley infra Oppidum Milton in 
Com. Stafford per spacium duorum annorum, 
antea cum Johanne Baddily infra parochiam de 
Milton praed. per spacium trium annorum, et 
antea cum quodam Rogers Hargrave infra pa- 
rochiam de Milton praed. per spacium duorum 
annorum aut eo circiter, orta infra parochiam 
de Norton in Com. Stafford praed. aetatis 23 
aut eo circiter, testis, &c. 

" Ad omnes articulos dictae All nis * et ad testa- 



278 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

mentum nuncupativum Johan. Milton testatoris in 
hac causa defuncti in hujusmodi neg 0, dat. et exhi- 
bit, deponit et dicit, that this deponent knew and 
was well acquainted with the articulate John Milton, 
the testator in this cause deceased, for about a twelve 
moneth before his death, who dyed about a moneth 
since to the best of this deponent's remembrance ; 
And saith, that on a day hapning about two moneths 
since, as neare as this deponent can remember, this 
deponent being then in the kitchen of the house of 
the foresaid John Milton, scituate against the Artil- 
lery Ground neare Bunhill Fields, and about noone 
of the same day, the said deceased and the producent 
Elizabeth his wife being then at dinner in the said 
kitchen, hee the said deceased amongst other dis- 
course then had betweene him and his said wife, did 
then speake to his said wife and utter these words, 
viz. Make much of mee as long as I live, for thou 
knowest I have given thee all when I dye at thy 
disposal; there being then present in the said 
kitchen this deponent's sister and contest q namely 
Elizabeth Fysher. And the said deceased was at 
that time of perfect mind and memory, and talked 
and discoursed sensibly and well, and was very 
merry, and seemed to be in good health of body, et 
aliter nescit. 

" Signum Marle Fisher. 

q i. e. Fellow-witness, Con-Testis. Warton. 



and writings of milton. 279 

" Ad Interrogators. 

" Ad primum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 
dent hath noe relation or dependance on the pro- 
ducent Elizabeth Milton, that it is indifferent to this 
respondent which of the parties in this suite obtaine, 
and would give the victory in this cause if in her 
power to that party that hath most right ; but which 
party hath most right thereto this respondent know- 
eth not, et aliter nescit. 

" Ad secundum Interr. respondet, that this re- 
spondent doth not remember the day when the de- 
ceased declared the words by her pre-deposed, but 
remembreth that it was about noone of such day 
that the words which hee then declared were these, 
viz. Make much of mee as long as I live, for thou 
knowest I have given thee all when I dye at thy 
disposall ; then speaking to his wife Elizabeth 
Milton the party producent in this cause, et aliter 
nescit. 

" Ad tertium Interr. respondet, that the de- 
ceased, when hee declared the words pre-deposed, 
was then at dinner with his wife the party pro- 
ducent and was then very merry, and seemed to be 
in good health of body ; but upon what occasion hee 
spoke the said words shee knoweth not, et aliter 
nescit. 

" Ad quartum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 



280 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

dent knoweth neither of the parties ministrant in 
this cause saving this respondent once saw Anne 
Milton one of the ministrants, et nescit respondere 
pro parte sua. 

" Ad quintum Interr. nescit respondere. 

" Ad sextum Interr. nescit respondere. 

" Ad septimum Interr. non concernit earn, et 
nescit respondere. 

" Ad octavum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 
dent once saw the Interr. Anne Milton but doth not 
remember whether shee was lame or helplesse, et 
aliter nescit. 

" Ad 9 m ' Interr. respondet, that this respondent 
knoweth nothing of the deceased's estate or the value 
thereof, et aliter nescit. 

" Eodem die repetit. coram Doctore Digby, Surro. 
&c. pnte Tho. Welham, N. P. 

" Signum Marle Fisher. 



* e Eodem Die 

Elizabetha Fisher, famula domestica Elizabethse 
Milton ptis producentis in hac causa cum qua 
et Johanne Milton ejus marito defuncto vixit 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 281 

per spacium 13 mensium, antea cum quodam 
Thoma Adams apud Bagnall in Com. Stafford 
per spacium trium annorum et sex mensium, 
antea cum W mo * Bourne Gen. infra parochiam 
de Woolstilstan in Com. Stafford praed. per 
spacium duorum annorum, orta infra parochiam 
de Norton in Com. praed. aetatis 28 annorum 
aut eo circiter, testis, &c. 

" Ad omnes articulos dictas AH nis * et ad testa- 
mentum nuncupativum Johan. Milton testatoris in 
hac causa defuncti in hujusmodi negotio dat. exhibit, 
et admiss. deponit et elicit, that this deponent was 
servant unto Mr. John Milton the testator in this 
cause deceased for about a yeare before his death, 
who died upon a Sunday the r fifteenth of Novem- 
ber last at night, And saith that on a day hapning 
in the month of July last, the time more certainly 
she remembereth not, this deponent being then in 
the deceased's lodging chamber, hee the said de- 
ceased, and the party producent in this cause his 
wife, being then alsoe in the said chamber at dinner 
together, and the said Elizabeth Milton the party 
producent having provided something for the de- 
ceased's dinner which hee very well liked, s hee the 

r She appears to have been mistaken, a single week, in her 
deposition. See the Life, p. 217. Todd. 

8 His grand-daughter Elizabeth Foster, by his third daughter 
Deborah, used to say, that he was delicate, but temperate in his 
diet. Wauton. 

Toland had before said, that he was extraordinary temperate 



282 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

said deceased then spoke to his said wife these or 
the like words, as neare as this deponent can remem- 
ber, viz. God have mercy Betty, I see thou wilt 
performe according to thy promise in providing 
mee such dishes as I think fitt whilst I live, and 
when I dye thou knowest that I have left thee all, 
there being noebody present in the said chamber 
with the said deceased and his wife but this depo- 
nent : And the said testator at that time was of per- 
fect mind and memory, and talked and discoursed 
sensibly and well, but was then indisposed in his 
body by reason of the distemper of the gout, which 
hee had then upon him*- Further this deponent 
saith, that shee hath sevrall times heard the said de- 
ceased, since the time above deposed of, declare and 
say, that hee had made provision for his children in 
his life-time, and had spent the greatest part of his 
estate in providing for them, and that hee was re- 
solved hee would doe noe more for them liveing or 
dyeing, for that little part which hee had left hee 
had given to his wife the articulate Elizabeth the 
producent, or he used words to that effect. And 
likewise told this deponent, that there was a thou- 
sand pounds left in Mr. Powell's hands to be dis- 
posed amongst his children hereafter. By all which 
words this respondent verily beleeveth that the said 
testator had given all his estate to the articulate 
Elizabeth his wife, and that shee should have the 



in his diet, which was any thing most in season or the easiest 
procured, Todd. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 283 

same after his decease, et aliter nescit respondere, 
saving that the said deceased was at the several 
times of declaring the words last pre-deposed alsoe 
of perfect mind and memory. 

" Signum Elizab. Fisher. 



" Ad Interrogators. 

" Ad primum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 
dent was servant to the deceased in his life time and 
is now servant to the producent and therefore hath 
a dependency upon her as her servant, that if the 
victory were in this respondent's power shee would 
give the deceased's estate equally to be shared be- 
tweene the ministrants and the producent, et aliter 
nescit. 

" Ad secundum Interr. respondet, that this re- 
spondent doth not remember on what day the de- 
ceased declared the words first by her afore deposed, 
but it was about noone of such day when he was at 
dinner that the precise words as neare as this respon- 
dent can remember which the deceased used at that 
time were these, viz. God have mercy Betty (speak- 
ing to his wife Elizabeth Milton, for soe hee usually 
called her,) / see thou wilt performe according to 
thy promise in providing mee such dishes as I 
think fitt whilst I live, and when I dye thou know- 
est that I have left thee all ; et aliter nescit ; sav- 



284 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LTFE 

ing that this respondent well remembreth that the 
deceased declared the words last by her deposed to 
the articles of the allegation to this respondent once 
on a Sunday in the afternoone, but on what day of 
the month or in what month the said Sunday then 
happened this respondent doth not remember. 

" Ad tertium Interr. respondet, that the occasion 
of the deceased's speaking of the words deposed by 
this respondent in her answer to the next precedent 
interrogatory was upon the producent's provideing 
the deceased such victuals for his dinner as hee liked, 
and that he was then indifferent well in health, sav- 
ing that some time he was troubled with the paine 
of the gout, and that hee was at that time very 
merry and not in any passion or angry humour, 
neither at that time spoke any thing against any of 
his children that this respondent heard of, et aliter 
nescit. 

" Ad quartum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 
dent hath heard the deceased declare his displeasure 
against the parties ministrant his children, and par- 
ticularly the deceased declared to this respondent 
that, a little before hee was marryed to Elizabeth 
Milton his now relict, a former maid servant of his 
told Mary one of the deceased's daughters and one 
of the ministrants, that shee heard the deceased was 
to be marryed, to which the said Mary replyed to 
the said maid servant, that that was noe news to 
heare of his wedding, but if shee could heare of his 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 285 

death that was something : and further told this re- 
spondent, that all his said children did combine to- 
gether and counsel his maid servant to cheat him 
the deceased in her markettings, and that his said 
children had made away some of his bookes and 
would have * sold the rest of his bookes to the dung- 
hill women ; or hee the said deceased spoke words 
to this respondent to the selfe same effect and pur- 
pose : that this respondent knoweth not what fre- 
quenters of the church, or w'hat good livers, the 
parties ministrant or either of them are, et aliter 
nescit. 

" Ad quintum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 
dent doth not know that the deceased's wife was to 
have 1000/. and the interrogative children of Chris- 
topher Milton the residue, nor doth this respondent 
know that the said Elizabeth, the deceased's wife, 
hath promised the interrogative Christopher Milton 
or his children any such thing in case shee should 
prevaile in this cause; that the said Mrs. Milton 
never confessed soe much in this respondent's hear- 
ing, or to any body else that this respondent know- 
eth of, et aliter nescit. 

<e Ad sextum Intern respondet, that this respon- 
dent believeth that what is left the deceased's chil- 
dren in the Will nuncupative in this cause executed 



1 See, however, what is told in my concluding note on the 
■present document. Todd. 



286 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

and mentioned therein to be due from Mr. Powell, 
is a good debt ; for that the said Mr. Powell is re- 
puted a rich man, et aliter nescit. 

" Ad septimum Interr. respondet, that this re- 
spondent did voluntarily tell the interrogative Mrs. 
Milton, what shee heard the deceased say, which was 
to the effect by her pre-deposed, et aliter nescit. 

" Ad octavum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 
dent knoweth not what the deceased did in his life 
time bestow on the ministrants his children, and that 
the interrogative Anne Milton is lame, but hath a 
trade and can live by the same, which is the making 
of gold and silver lace and which the deceased bred 
her up to, et aliter nescit. 

" Ad nonum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 
dent knoweth not the deceased's estate, or the value 
thereof, et aliter nescit. 

" Eodem die repetit. coram Doctore Trumbull, 
Surrog. &c. Tho. Welham, N. P u . 

" Signum Elizabeths Fisher. 

u Cur. Praerog. Cant, ut supra. Warton. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



287 



IV. 

" Grant of Letters of Administration to the widow 
Elizabeth*. 

" Die 25 t0 - Februarii 167±. 

« JOHANNES MILTON. Vicesimol 
quinto Die Februarii ema- 
navit Commissio Elizabethae 
Milton Relictae Johannis 
Milton nuper Parochiae ult. Julii. 
Sancti Egidii Cripplegate in 
Com. Mid. Defuncti hentis, 
&c. ad Administrand. bona. 
jura,et credita dicti defuncti, 
de bene &c. jurat. Testa- 
mento Nuncupativo diet, de- 
functi: aliter per antedictam ult. Dec. 
Elizabetham Milton Alle- 
gata, nondum Probato." 



> 



s The reader will compare these evidences with the printed 
accounts of Milton's biographers on this subject ; who say, that 
he sold his library before his death, and left his family fifteen 
hundred pounds, which his widow Elizabeth seized, and only 
gave one hundred pounds to each of his three daughters. Of 
this widow, Phillips relates, rather harshly, that she persecuted 
his children in his life time, and cheated them at his death. 
Milton had children, who survived him, only by his first wife, 
the three daughters so after named. Of these, Anne, the first, de- 
formed in stature, but with a handsome face, married a master 
builder, and died of her first childbirth, with the infant. Mary, 
the second, died single. Deborah, the third, and the greatest fa- 



288 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

vourite of the three, went over to Ireland as companion to a lady 
in her father's life-time ; and afterwards married Abraham Clarke, 
a weaver in Spital-fields, and died, aged seventy-six, in August 
1 727. This is the daughter that used to read to her father ; and 
was well known to Richardson, and Professor Ward : a woman 
of a very cultivated understanding, and not inelegant of manners. 
She was generously patronised by Addison ; and by Queen Caro- 
line, who sent her a present of fifty guineas. She had seven sons 
and three daughters, of whom only Caleb and Elizabeth are re- 
membered. Caleb migrated to Fort Saint George, where perhaps 
he died. Elizabeth, the youngest daughter, married Thomas 
Foster a weaver in Spital-fields, and had seven children, who all 
died. She is said to have been a plain sensible woman ; and kept 
a petty grocer's or chandler's shop, first at lower Holloway, and 
afterwards in Cock-lane near Shoreditch church. In April, 1750, 
Comus was acted for her benefit : Doctor Johnson, who wrote the 
Prologue, says, " she had so little acquaintance with diversion 
or gaiety, that she did not know what was intended when a be- 
nefit was offered her." The profits of the performance were only 
one hundred and thirty pounds ; although Doctor Newton con- 
tributed largely, and twenty pounds were given by Jacob Tonson 
the bookseller. On this trifling augmentation to their small stock, 
she and her husband removed to Islington, where they both soon 
died. So much greater is our taste, our charity, and general na- 
tional liberality, at the distance of forty years, that I will ven- 
ture to pronounce, that, in the present day, a benefit at one of our 
theatres for the relief of a poor and an infirm grand-daughter of 
the author of Comus and Paradise Lost, would have been much 
more amply and worthily supported. 

These seem to have been the grounds, upon which Milton's 
Nuncupative Will was pronounced invalid. First, there was 
wanting what the Civil Law terms a rogatio testium, or a solemn 
bidding of the persons present, to take notice that the words he 
was going to deliver were to be his Will. The Civil Law re- 
quires the form, to make men's verbal declarations operate as 
Wills ; otherwise, they are presumed to be words of common 
calling or loose conversation. And the Statute of the twenty- 
ninth of Charles the Second [c. hi.] has adopted this rule ; as 
may be seen in the 1 9th clause of that Statute, usually called the 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 289 

Statute of Frauds j which passed in the year 1676, two years after 
Milton's death. Secondly, the words, here attested by the three 
witnesses, are not words delivered at the same time ; but one wit- 
ness speaks to one declaration made at one time, and another to 
another declaration made at another time. And although the de- 
clarations are of similar import, this circumstance will not satisfy 
the demands of the Law ; which requires, that the three witnesses 
who are to support a Nuncupative Will, must speak to the iden- 
tical words uttered at one and the same time. There is yet ano- 
ther requisite in Nuncupative Wills, which is not found here ; 
namely, that the words be delivered in the last sickness of a party : 
whereas the words here attested appear to have been delivered 
when the party was in a tolerable state of health, at least under 
no immediate danger of death. On these principles we may pre- 
sume Sir Leoline Jenkins to have acted in the rejection of Mil- 
ton's Will : although the three witnesses apparently told the 
truth in what they deposed. The Judge, deciding against the 
Will, of course decreed administration of the Intestate's effects 
to the widow. 

For an investigation of these papers in the Prerogative Re- 
gistry, for an explanation of their nature and purport, and of other 
technical difficulties which they present to one unacquainted with 
the records and more ancient practice of the prerogative court in 
testamentary proceedings, I must confess myself indebted to the 
kind attention and friendship of Sir William Scott. There 
are other papers in the Commons belonging to this business : but 
as they are mere forms of law, as they throw no new light on the 
cause, and furnish no anecdotes of Milton and his family, they 
are here omitted. Warton. 

To what is said, at the beginning of the preceding note, of Mil- 
ton's having sold his library, and of his personal property, some 
additions are requisite ; since his daughters in this Will are said, 
by a servant woman, as repeating it from Milton, to have made 
away some of his books, and to have intended selling the rest to 
the dunghill women ; a story of the highest improbability : as if 
the dunghill women understood a traffick of this kind, as if those 
who visited Milton should never have heard of such a spoliation, 
and as if his brother Christopher could have been wholly igno- 
rant of it. What is the evidence of this brother as to these 



290 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

slandered nieces ? He says, " that touching his deceased brother's 
displeasure with them, he only heard him say at the time of de- 
claring his Will, that they were undutiful and unkind to him, not 
expressing any particulars :" as if Milton would have forborne 
to particularize the plunder of what had been collected with 
great expense perhaps as well as taste, and through the instru- 
mentality of those who read to him or conversed with him could 
still be the solace of age and blindness. Toland indeed notices a 
diminution of his books made by himself. " Towards the latter 
part of his life he contracted his library, both because the heirs 
he left could not make a right use of it, and that he thought he 
might sell it more to their advantage than they could be able to 
do themselves." A provident determination, and a very probable 
account. 

Whatever might be the sum he left at his death, three receipts 
bearing the signatures of the three daughters, on each receiving 
100/. from their step-mother Elizabeth, were brought before the 
publick in 1825 at the sale of the books and manuscripts of my 
friend, the late James Boswell, Esq. of Lincoln's Inn. These 
payments were made as portions to them of the estate of their 
father ; and were to be vested in rent-charges or annuities for 
their respective benefit with the approbation of their paternal and 
maternal uncles, Richard Powell and Sir Christopher Milton. 
Besides these receipts a copy of the Will of Elizabeth Milton, 
the poet's widow, together with some legal papers relating to her 
property, was at the same dispersion of literary curiosities sold. 
The Will is dated Aug. 27, 1727; and the probate appears to 
have been granted Oct. 10, 1727, by which her death in that 
year is established. 

The profits for the grand-daughter by the performance of 
Comus appear to have been too highly rated by Mr. Warton ; 
for I was informed by the late Isaac Reed, Esq. that the receipts 
of the House were only 147/. 14s. 6d. from which the expences 
deducted were 80/. Todd. 



SECTION VIII. 



Of Compositions left by Milton in Manuscript, and parti- 
cularly of his Treatise of Tlwology lately discovered. 



To Aubrey we are first indebted for information 
upon this interesting part of Milton's history. He 
tells us, that the widow of the poet gave all his 
papers, among which was the dictionary already 
noticed, to his nephew ; and that she had " a great 
many letters by her from learned men of his ac- 
quaintance, both of England, and beyond sea." 
But from this nephew, who has told us too so much 
of his uncle's friends as well as writings, we have 
derived no information of a correspondence so im- 
portant. Aubrey also seems to have looked for 
what is elsewhere unnoticed, of which a discovery 
indeed would be to literature an acquisition of 
highest value, " a Mr, J. Milton s Life, writt by 
himselfe." 

a The whole passage in Aubrey is this : " Qu. Mr. Allam, of 
Edm. Hall. Oxon, of Mr. J. Milton's Life writt by himselfe." 

u 2 



292 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Phillips relates that Milton had " prepared for the 
press an answer to some little scribbling quack in 
London, who had written a scurrilous libel against 
him ; but whether by the dissuasion of his friends, 
or for what other cause he knew not, this answer 
was never published" 

Toland, after reciting many publications of Milton, 
informs us, that " b he daily expected more pieces 
of this accomplished gentleman from c James Tyrrel, 
who has the manuscript copies in his hands, and 
will not envy such a blessing to the nation." But 
to what was known this seeming goodly promise 
added nothing. 

Of the Letters of State published after the death 
of Milton, and of his Dictionary in manuscript, ac- 
counts have been d already given. 

The Brief History of Moscovia, and of other 
less known countries lying eastward of Russia as 
far as Cathay, Milton had evidently designed for the 
press before he died. " e What was scattered in many 
volumes," he says, " and observed at several times 
by eye-witnesses, with no cursory pains I laid toge- 



b Life of Milton, ed. Hollis, p. 132. 

c A professed and very learned Whig, who published a History 
of England, 1696 — 1704, which is extremely curious and valu- 
able, and now also not of frequent occurrence. 

a See before, pp. 171, 181. 

e Pref. to the Hist. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 293 

ther. This essay, such as it is, was thought by some, 
who knew of it, not amiss to be published" But 
it appeared not till about eight years after his death. 

We come now to the information, given also by 
Aubrey, of Milton's u Idea Theologize, in manu- 
script, in the hands of Mr, Skinner, a merchant's 
sonne, in Marke Lane" From Aubrey, and from 
Milton's relations, Wood repeats it, with mentioning 
Cyriack Skinner, as the depositary of this relick ; 
and what the one calls Idea Theologies, the other 
indeed adopts, but also terms it, The Body of Divi- 
nity ; at that time, ", or at least lately," he adds, " in 
the hands of Milton's acquaintance, Cyr. Skinner." 
Aubrey seems to speak with hesitation, as if there 
was another Mr. Skinner to whom the manuscript 
might have been entrusted ; for he says, after naming 
the existence of it, " Mem. There was one Mr. Skin- 
ner of the Jerkers' Office, up two paire of stayres 
at the Custom House ;" which however he might 
have noticed, with a view perhaps only to obtain 
further information respecting the manuscript he 
had merely mentioned. But it will certainly be seen, 
that into the hands of Mr. Daniel Skinner, f sup- 
posed to be the son of a merchant too in Mark Lane, 
this manuscript had passed. Yet from the hands of 

f By Mr. Pulman of the Heralds' College, who is inclined to 
believe that he was the eldest son of Daniel Skinner, merchant, 
of the parish of St. Olave, Hart Street ; which parish comprises 
a considerable part of Mark Lane. Communicated to me by Dr. 
Sumner. 



294 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Milton, or by his desire, Cyriack Skinner we may sup- 
pose to have been the person who first received it. 
He had been the pupil of Milton ; he continued to 
be among his g learned familiar acquaintance; he 
lived indeed h near him ; he was a member of the 
same club with him ; and to him were addressed 
by the poet two Sonnets. Of this literary friend of 
Milton yet a word or two more. Wood tells us, that 
he was " a merchant's son of London, an ingenious 
young gentleman, and scholar to John Milton ;" and 
that he had distinguished himself in political dispu- 
tation, as an occasional chairman at the Rota Club, 
where topicks in support of democracy on its death- 
bed were amply discussed in 1659, and where the zeal 
of Skinner sometimes perhaps disdained the bounds 
of circumspection ; for it is spoken of him in derision 
by the younger nephew of Milton, among the me- 
morable things of 1661, f f * that it was one year 
since Mr. Skinner spake discreetly at the Rota!" 
He died in London, leaving a daughter only, it has 
been said, in 1700. 

Possessed of this theological treatise, upon which 
he and Milton had probably often conversed, Cyriack 
Skinner might know whether the author himself had 
k intended to publish it ; which now indeed is a 



g As Aubrey has informed us. 
h Dr. Sumner's Introduct. p. viii. 

1 John Phillips's Almanack of Montelion for the year 1661. 
k Some expressions in the Preface to the treatise seem to sig- 
nify an intention of this kind ; " heec si omnibus palam facio" — 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 295 

questionable point. Milton died at the close of 1674. 
Skinner appears,, however, to have been in no haste 
to give the work to the world. The l surreptitious 
edition of the State-Letters had certainly excited an 
alarm, and an inquiry, as to any other unpublished 
papers of the deceased secretary. But Skinner 
seems to have sought a publick notification of the 
religious sentiments of his friend, not from the typo- 
graphy of his own country, but from a foreign press. 
And accordingly a Mr. Daniel Skinner commenced 
a correspondence with the celebrated Daniel Elzevir 
of Amsterdam on the subject both of the Theological 
Treatise and the State-Letters of Milton. Daniel 
Skinner was, at this time, a fellow of Trinity Col- 
lege, Cambridge ; and, it can hardly be doubted, a 
near relation of Cyriaek ; perhaps his nephew, as 
Mr. Lemon conjectures. He had been m educated 
in Westminster School, which he left for the Uni- 
versity in 1670 ; and the dates of his admission as a 
minor and a major fellow are in October 1674 and 
in May 1679. Of the letters, and of the first 196 
pages of the treatise, this gentleman had been the 
n copyist. To the employment of transcribing he 

" hsec quam possum latissime libentissimeque impertio," &c. But 
I lay no great stress upon this point. 

1 See before, p. 181. 

m From Dr. Sumner. And see his Introduct. p. xiv. 

n The hand-writing of the 196 pages is the same as that 
of the State-Letters ; which latter is attested^ by Daniel Skin- 
ner himself to be his, as it has recently been discovered in 
the State-Paper Office. The whole treatise consists of 735 
pages. See more upon this subject in a subsequent page. 



296 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

had perhaps been incited, or recommended, by Cy- 
riack Skinner, when ° Milton, at the request of the 
Danish resident, consented to a transcript of his 
letters. He had been doubtless one of those, 
" p whom Milton had daily about him to read to 
him ; some, persons of man's estate, who of their 
own accord greedily catched at the opportunity of 
being his readers, that they might as well reap the 
benefit of what they read to him, as oblige him by 
the benefit of their reading ; others, of younger 
years, sent by their parents to the same end" 
From copying more of the treatise Skinner perhaps 
desisted, when he found that Elzevir, to whom the 
whole of the manuscript was submitted, declined to 
print it ; or when the letter from the master of his 
college aroused him to a sense of danger in what he 
purposed. His own q attestation, dated Oct. 18, 
1676, now in the State-Paper Office, is, that he had 
sent " the true perfect copy of State-Letters to 
Elzevir, at Amsterdam, to be printed." In the No- 
vember following, however, Daniel Elzevir addressed 
Sir Joseph Williamson, then one of the principal 
Secretaries of State, with the r information, (dated 

° See before, p. 1 80. 

p Phillips's Life of Milton. 

q Discovered, since the publication of Dr. Sumner's volumes, 
by Mr. Lemon in the State-Paper Office. 

r Discovered also, since Dr. Sumner's publication, among the 
State-Paper treasures, by Mr. Lechmere, of that Office; and trans- 
mitted to me, with his accustomed zeal to afford all the informa- 
tion in his power, by Mr. Lemon, while this portion of my nana-* 
tive was passing through the press. 



• AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 297 

at Amsterdam,) " that about a year before, Mr. 
Skinner put into his hands this collection of Letters 
and a Treatise on Theology, with directions to print 
them ; but that on examining them he (Elzevir) 
found many things in them, which, in his opinion, 
had better be suppressed than divulged ; that he 
declined printing them ; and that Mr. Skinner had 
lately been at Amsterdam, had expressed himself to 
be highly gratified that he (Elzevir) had not com- 
menced the printing of those works, and then took 
away the manuscripts" Still in possession of the 
manuscripts, Skinner did not yet return to England. 
But inquiry had now been certainly made after the 
papers of Milton, directed by the judicious vigilance 
both of political and academical precaution in our 
own country. In the February following, Dr. Isaac 
Barrow, master of Trinity College, communicated to 
Skinner by letter a peremptory order " s to repair 
immediately to the College ; no further allowance to 
discontinue being granted to you : this you are to 
doe upon penalty of y e Statute, which is expulsion 
from y e College if you disobey. We doe also warn 
you, that if you shall publish any writing mis- 
chievous to y e Church or State, you will thence in- 
curre a forfeiture of your interest here. I hope God 
will give you y e wisedome and grace to take warn- 
ing." Barrow had entrusted this letter to a friend ; 
to whom he says, " t I am sorry for the miscarriages 

s Dated 13 Feb, 1676—7. State-Pap. Off. Domest. Papers, 
vol. xix. fol. 165. Directed For Mr. Daniel Skinner. 

* Dated as the preceding. Dom. Pap. ibid. p. 167. Directed, 



298 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

of that wild young man to whom I have written the 
enclosed, which you may please to seale and send." 
It was sent, and delivered in the March following to 
Skinner, then at Paris, by Mr. Perwich, u who com- 
municated this intelligence to Mr. Bridgeman, Sir 
Joseph Williamson's secretary ; and that he had de- 
livered it before witness ; thus at once attesting the 
notice, which the English government also was 
taking, of Skinner and his project. <e I found him," 
Mr. Perwich says, " much surprised, and yet at the 
same time slighting any constraining orders from the 
superiour of his College, or any benefit he expected 
thence ; but as to Milton's worhes he intended to 
have printed, (though he saith that part which he 
had in MSS. are noe way to be objected ag l either 
with regard to royalty and government,) he hath 
desisted from causing them to be printed, having 
left them in Holland ; and that he intends, not- 
withstanding the College summons, to goe for Italy 
this summer." It should be mentioned, that after 
the words " either with regard to royalty and go- 
vernment," in Mr. Perwich's letter, something fur- 
ther seems to have been intended, in order to com- 
plete what either leads us to expect ; such as, " or 
to religion, church-polity, or a similar expression," 
as Dr. Sumner has justly observed. 

Perhaps with the suspected papers Skinner soon 

For my reverend friend, Mr. George Seignior, at Ely House in 
Holborne, London. 

u Dr. Sumner's Introduct. p. xi. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 299 

returned to England ; but at what exact period we 
know not. He had been compelled to confess all 
he knew respecting them ; and had an interview 
with Sir Joseph Williamson upon the subject. He 
was accordingly advised or invited, we may suppose, 
to deliver the manuscripts to the Secretary of State ; 
and thus might be led to expect, by this voluntary 
cession of them, the forgiveness of his College after 
his slighting their commands, and their admission of 
him at last to the honour which appears to have been 
long withheld, namely, that of a major fellowship 
of his College, till May 1679. 

Such was the person, who transcribed the first 
part of the manuscript, apparently for the press ; 
the collections or extracts made at different times, 
and for a long period perhaps, together with amend- 
ments or alterations, being now arranged, or assumed 
to be fit for publication. For the remainder of the 
manuscript is in an entirely different hand, being a 
strong upright character, x undoubtedly the same 
hand which transcribed the beautiful Sonnet of Mil- 
ton, beginning Methought I saw my late espoused 
Saint, which is now among the manuscripts of Mil- 
ton in Trinity College, Cambridge ; and this scribe is 
believed to be his daughter Deborah, y whom Wood 
expressly calls his amanuensis. This part of the 
volume is interspersed with interlineations and cor- 

s See what is presently said of the collation of the writing in 
the Treatise and this Sonnet. 
y Fasti Oxon. 



300 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

rections, and in some places with small slips of 
writing pasted in the margin. The corrections are 
in a different hand-writing, the writer of which can- 
not now he ascertained. 

Thus I have endeavoured satisfactorily to account 
for the long-lost theological treatise of Milton having 
been deposited in his Majesty's State-Paper Office. 
The z conjecture, acutely proposed and ably illus- 
trated, of its having found its way into this treasury 
of national documents, in consequence of a supposed 
connection of Cyriack Skinner with the popish plot in 
1677, is therefore now at rest. Dr. Sumner indeed 
anticipated the probability, that some such dis- 
covery would be made, as I have related ; and, 
after Barrow's letter was found, communicated to 
me his new conjecture nearly tallying with the 
facts. Of Skinner* a Benedictine, denounced by 
Titus Oates in 1678 as a confederate in the alleged 
conspiracy of the preceding year, and conjectured 
also to have been implied in Milton's papers, we may 
now consign the memory to oblivion ; since a Bene- 
dictine could not, as Daniel Skinner was, be the 
fellow of a Protestant college ; nor, as Cyriack ap- 
pears to have been, a married man. I have only 
further to observe, that if Cyriack Skinner had been 
suspected as a conspirator, and if his papers had 
been seized, such circumstances would hardly have 
escaped the minute inquiries of Anthony Wood and 
of Toland ; who both say, while Cyriack Skinner too, 
z By Mr. Lemon and Dr. Sumner. Iiitroduct. p. x. 



. AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 301 

was living, that the manuscript of Milton at the 
close of the seventeenth century was then, or lately 
had been, in his hands. Cyriack was too discreet 
to undeceive others. The offence, which had been 
given, was pardoned ; and the obnoxious treatise 
was reposed upon the shelves in the Old State- 
Paper Office at Whitehall, till in the year 1823 Mr. 
Lemon, the deputy-keeper of the State-Papers, in 
his indefatigable researches, discovered it loosely 
wrapped in two or three sheets of printed paper, 
which, it is curious to add, were proof-sheets of Ho- 
race, one of the publications of Daniel Elzevir. The 
State-Letters of Milton were in the same parcel. And 
the whole was enclosed in a cover directed, To Mr. 
Skinner, Merck 1 . 

With respect to the real title of the manuscript, 
Aubrey and Wood are supposed to have been in 
error ; because they call it Idea Theologice, and 
it now is, De Doctrina Christiana ex sacris dun- 
taxat libris petita disquisitionum libri duo post- 
humi. Yet no doubt the title was at first, as Wood 
and Aubrey have given it. The Idea was adopted 
in conformity to example ; from Milton having seen, 
for instance, what was addressed to his friend Hartlib 
in 1651, the learned Pell's Idea of Mathematichs ; 
or, at a later period, from being informed of the op- 
position to Hobbes in Dr. Templer's Idea Theo- 
logice Leviathanis. An Idea Eloquentice also 
appeared about this time. The present title was 
probably chosen, after his death, by those into whose 



302 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

hands the manuscript had passed, and whose endea- 
vour was to make it publick. 

These are circumstances which illustrate the exter- 
nal evidence of the treatise as the work of Milton. 
We shall soon observe what would be conclusive as to 
this position, if such testimony had been wanting, I 
mean internal evidence. 

The entrance of the treatise exhibits the great 
poet explaining his reason for compiling it. " z I 
deemed it safest and most advisable to compile 
for myself," he says, " by my own labour and 
study, some original treatise, which should be al- 
ways at hand, derived solely from the Word of 
God itself r Wood appears to have been informed 
of this determination, as he mentions the poet's 
"framing a Body of Divinity out of the Bible''' 
Perhaps not satisfied altogether with the systems 
of theology which he was wont to consult, Milton, 
so early as when he wrote his Doctrine and Disci- 
pline of Divorce, could not forbear, in his remarks 
upon " custom and prejudice," sarcastically to de- 
scribe " youth run ahead into the easy creek of a 
system or a medulla? And afterwards, in his Con- 
siderations how to remove hirelings out of the Church, 
he mentions, I had almost said in reference to his 

z Preface to the Treatise. I cite at present the translation of 
the work by Dr. Sumner for the benefit of every reader. And 
I may assure those, who understand not Latin, that the transla- 
tion is exact and faithful. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 303 

a design of the very work before us, " the helps 
which we enjoy to make more easy the attainment 
of Christian Religion by the meanest ; namely, the 
entire Scripture translated into English with plenty 
of notes ; and somewhere or other, I trust, may be 
found some Body of Divinity, as theij call it, with- 
out school-terms and metaphysical notions, which 
have obscured rather than explained our religion, 
and made it seem difficult without cause? Hence 
his frequent appeals to the Scriptures only ; as in 
his reference to " b the Protestant religion reform- 
ing herself rightly by the Scriptures;" and to 
" c the deciding our controversies only by the Scrip- 
tures" Hence his reminding the Parliament of their 
profession " d to assert only the true Protestant 
Christian religion, as it is contained in the Holy 
Scriptures ;" and his own assertion, " that we can 
have no other ground in matters of religion but only 
from the Scriptures" And yet I am persuaded, 
that this is the very " e tractate," which, in the 
earlier part of his life, he had begun " to collect 
from the ablest divines, Amesius, Wollebius," and 
others, as the f et cetera of his nephew, who tells us 
of the compilation, implies ; and which, from time 

a Dr. Sumner is of the same opinion. 

b Reason of Church Gov. B. ii. 

c Animadv. on the Remonstrant's Defence. 

d Treatise of Civ. Power in Eccl. Causes. 

e See the whole passage, describing this tractate, cited from 
Phillips, p. 312. 

£ Phillips adds to the et cetera the notice of resuming the sub- 
ject of this treatise, but never refers to it again. 



304 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

to time, had been augmented, revised, and corrected. 
For in it indeed there are whole sentences " g some- 
times almost identically the same as in Wollebius," 
certain coincidences also with Ames, and some 
direct citations from other theological writers. But 
this is not a solitary instance of his practice h opposed 
to his theory. 

The work before us consists of two books, entitled 
Of the Knowledge of God, and Of the Service of 
God. In this distinction we immediately trace the 
hand and heart of Milton. " * It will require no great 
labour of exposition," he has before told us, " to un- 
fold what is meant by matters of religion ; being as 
soon apprehended, as defined, such things as belong 
chiefly to the knowledge and service of God." 
The first book is divided into thirty-three chapters. 
1. Of the Christian doctrine, and the number of its 
divisions. 2. Of God. 3. Of the Divine decrees. 
4. Of predestination. 5. Of the Son of God. 6. 
Of the Holy Spirit. 7. Of the Creation. 8. Of 
the Providence of God, or of his general government 
of the universe. 9. Of the special government of 
angels. 10. Of the special government of man 
before the Fall, including the institutions of the 
Sabbath, and of Marriage. 11. Of the fall of our 
first parents, and of sin. 12. Of the punishment of 
sin. 13. Of the death of the body. 14. Of man's 

« Dr. Sumner's Transl. p. 602. 

h See what is stated in p. 308. 

* Treatise of Civ. Power in Ecel. Causes. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 305 

restoration, and of Christ as Redeemer. 15. Of 
the functions of the Mediator, and of his threefold 
office. 16. Of the ministry of redemption. 17. Of 
man's renovation, including his calling. 18. Of re- 
generation. 19. Of repentance. 20. Of saving 
faith. 21. Of being planted in Christ, and its 
effects. 22. Of justification. 23. Of adoption. 24. 
Of union and fellowship with Christ and his mem- 
bers, wherein is considered the mystical or invisible 
Church. 25. Of imperfect glorification, wherein 
are considered the doctrines of assurance and final 
perseverance. 26. Of the manifestation of the Co- 
venant of Grace, including the Law of God. 27. 
Of the Gospel, and of Christian liberty. 28. Of the 
external sealing of the Covenant of Grace. 29. Of 
the visible Church. 30. Of the Holy Scriptures. 
31. Of particular Churches. 32. Of Church dis- 
cipline. 33. Of perfect glorification, including the 
second Advent of Christ, the resurrection of the 
dead, and the general conflagration. 

Into seventeen chapters only the second book is 
divided. 1. Of good works. 2. Of the proximate 
causes of good works. 3. Of the virtues belonging 
to the service of God. 4. Of external service. 5. 
Of oaths and the lot. 6. Of zeal. 7. Of the time 
for divine worship, wherein are considered the Sab- 
bath, Lord's Day, and Festivals. 8. Of our duties 
towards man, and the general virtues belonging 
thereto. 9. Of the first class of special virtues con- 
nected with the duty of man towards himself. 10. 



306 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Of the second class of virtues connected with the 
duty of man towards himself. 11. Of the duties of 
man towards his neighbour, and the virtues com- 
prehended under those duties. 12. Of the special 
virtues or duties which regard our neighbour. 13. 
The second class of special duties towards our neigh- 
bour continued. 15. Of the reciprocal duties of 
man towards his neighbour, and specially of private 
duties. 16. Of the remaining class of private du- 
ties. 17. Of publick duties towards our neigh- 
bour. 

Such are the parts of this treatise of divinity ; 
wherein are some positions, which he who wrote the Pa- 
radise Lost could not have been expected to advance. 
For in these he is to his former orthodoxy often op- 
posed ; and in these he appears, no longer in the 
questionable shape which bishop Newton has de- 
scribed, but evidently attached to the Arian scheme. 
" Some have inclined to believe," that learned bio- 
grapher has said, " that Milton was an Arian ; but 
there are more express passages in his works to over- 
throw this opinion, than any there are to confirm it." 
This hesitation would have been dispersed by a 
glance upon that part of the treatise, which affects 
to describe The Son of God. Nor could I have 
formerly stated, if to me also the pages of this vo- 
lume had been unfolded, that from heretical peculi- 
arity of opinion he was free. The dormant suspicion 
of schism was unawakened, while I dwelt upon the 
magick of his invention ; and, like others, I was all 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 307 

ear only to his sweet and solemn-breathing strains. 
It was left to a minute inspection of his works for the 
discovery of his aberration, as in the present treatise, 
from orthodoxy ; and of accordance in them with the 
latter both in sentiments and expressions. This has 
been done by Dr. Sumner, to whose care his Ma- 
jesty graciously confided the recent edition and 
translation of the manuscript. And in the judicious 
observations which accompany his labour through- 
out, as well as in the discreet and elegant introduc- 
tion to it, all the gratification which taste and learn- 
ing can give will be found. To his research I am 
indebted for most of the passages, which presently 
will be adduced from the treatise, as identifying the 
pen of Milton ; and by communications with him 
upon the present subject I have been assisted and 
honoured. 

This avowal of his religious sentiments certainly 
exhibits the great poet at variance not only with the 
doctrine of the Church of England, but at variance 
with the tenets of sects to which he had yielded 
assent, and at variance with himself. It is indeed the 
production of a fervent mind, sometimes displaying 
the singularity of self-confidence, and sometimes 
yielding tribute to the wayward opinions of others. 
Hence the occurrence, not unfrequently, of partial 
interpretation and of unsound criticism. Of recon- 
dite or extensive learning, of novel disquisition, or 
of ingenious adaptation, the treatise is rather barren. 
We sometimes meet with subtleties indeed, not ex- 



308 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

pected however in a work professing to be derived 
from the Scriptures only; and with scholastick or 
metaphysical distinctions, disclaimed however in the 
very entrance of it. " k Considering the language 
employed in parts of this treatise/' Dr. Sumner ob- 
serves, u Milton more frequently censures the meta- 
physical divinity than might have been expected. 
His practice at least, in this as well as in some 
other points, is not very consistent with his theory. 
He speaks, however, in other works, in the same 
slighting manner of the sophistry of the schools." 
He speaks in those too, I must add, with apparent 
contempt of " l bodies and marrows of divinity ;" 
and yet here has adopted the very form and pressure 
of them. But what here must be admired is the tone 
of moderation throughout, the absence of polemical 
fierceness and personal hostility. With all his re- 
verence for the sacred writings, with all the religious 
spirit of his earlier days, and with all his former zeal 
in the pursuit of truth, Milton now also stands be- 
fore us. He presents himself as an able expositor of 
many moral duties too ; and, for the most part, elegantly 
<e m teaches over the whole book of sanctity and vir- 
tue." For the rich expression and splendid imagery 
indeed, which perpetually meet us in his other works, 
we here look in vain. But his object, like that of a 
contemporary opponent to the false philosophy of 

k Transl. p. 602. 

1 Consider, for removing Hirelings out of the Church. See 
also other passages to this effect, cited in p. 302. 
. '" See his Reason of Church Government, before cited, p. 53. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 309 

the time, was plainness and perspicuity : " n That 
which I chiefly aimed at in my expressions was sig- 
nificancy and clearness, that my reader might see 
that I was willing to make him judge of the strength 
of my arguments, and would not put him to the 
trouble of divining in what it lay, nor inveigle him 
by ornaments of speech to think it greater than it 
was." Such an avowal Milton would have read with 
pleasure, delivered as it is by a writer who abund- 
antly exposes the sophistry of Hobbes in particular, 
(whose ° tenets Milton also hated,) and who " p wil- 
lingly submits his fallible reason to the sure informa- 
tions afforded by celestial light." He would have given 
the hand of fellowship also to this author, when he says, 
" I admit no man's opinions in the whole lump, and 
have not scrupled on occasion to own dissents from 
the generality of learned men, whether philosophers 
or divines ; and when I choose to travel in the beaten 
road, it is not because I find it is the road, but be- 
cause I judge it is the way." With feelings perhaps 
of this kind Milton commenced his wanderings from 
Puritanism to Calvinism, from Calvinism to an esteem 
for Arminius, and finally from an accordance with 
Independents and Anabaptists to a dereliction of 
every denomination of Protestants ; changes, which 

n Some Considerations about the Reconcilableness of Reason 
and Religion. By T. E. a Layman. Lond. 1675. Pref. p. xi. 
written long before, as the preface states. 

" Milton's widowe assures me, that Mr. Hobbes was not one 
of his acquaintance, that her husband did not like him at all : — 
their interests and tenets were diametrically opposite." Aubrey. 

p Pref. to the Considerations, ut supr. p. xv. 



310 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

were first detailed by Toland ; and which, with the 
suspicion of his Arianism, have not escaped the sar- 
castick notice of a modern French writer. " q II ne 
faut pas etre surpris des principes errones de ce 
fougueux republicain en matiere de religion, puisqu' 
ilfut de toutes les sectes, et qu' ilfinit par rfetre 
d'aucune. Dans ses poemes epiques, il parle de 
Jesus Christ en veritable Arien" 

It is not improbable, that from the perusal either 
of Toland's narrative, or of the Remarks upon that 
biography which immediately followed it, some con- 
jectured, as Richardson relates it in 1734, or were 
inclined to believe, as bishop Newton expresses it 
in 1749, that Milton was an Arian. " r It was To- 
land's business," the author of the Remarks observes, 
" to represent Milton as a favourer of the Socinians 
and Deists, who, not contented with revelation, form 
to themselves notions of a Deity according to their 
own corrupt reason. — s Another reason Toland had 
to promote the publishing Mr. Milton's Life, was, 
his pleading for liberty to Lutherans, Calvinists, Ana- 
baptists, Arians, Socinians, and Arminians ; and his 
disapproving the terms of Trinity, Triunity, Coes- 
sentiality," &c. The author afterwards for himself 
declares, " * As to a liberty for Arians and Socinians, 
which he presses so much, I must beg leave to dis- 
sent from Mr. Milton in that point. — u As to the 

q Peignot, Diet, des Livres condamnes au feu. 1 806. vol. i. p. 320. 
r Rem. p. 6. s P. 29. J P. 35. " P. 37. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 311 

reviver of the Arian and founder of the Socinian he- 
resy, Faustus Socinus, he was so far from being either 
a learned or good man, as Toland would suggest 
from Mr. Milton, that he never followed any regu- 
lar study," &c. At last, however, the writer seems 
to consider any heterodox partiality in the poet as 
an assumption of the biographer, rather than as a 
fact. " x You see what sort of men they are, whom 
Toland hath raised Mr. Milton from the grave to 
patronize and to plead for. This is a new Soci- 
nian invention to make the name of so great a man 
subservient to their cause." Toland indeed says, 
that he " y remembers not ever to have met with any 
person who spoke with such disinterestedness and 
impartiality of our various sects in religion," as Mil- 
ton has spoken in his published Treatise of True 
Religion, " except Thomas Firmin." And if to the 
eye of Toland the present system of divinity had 
been presented, he would have selected from it other 
coincidences of opinion in the poet and that benevo- 
lent person, who also had strayed from sect to sect, 
was first a Calvinist, next an Arminian, and adopted 
lastly the principles of the Unitarians. 

The preceding supposition which Richardson and 
Newton have recorded, and others have believed, ap- 
pears to be confirmed by the present work ; which 
was probably not completed before his latest years, 
when perhaps he thought only of arranging the ex- 

x Rem. p. 75. * Life of Milton. 



312 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

tracts he had long been accustomed to make both 
" z from the shorter systems of divines,, and from 
more copious theological treatises ;" a plan in which 
he had diligently persevered, he tells us,ybr several 
years. Hence we find him condescending to the 
humble task of imitation in distributing the subject 
of this work, in arranging the chapters, in proposing 
arguments, and in constructing sentences ; to which 
purposes the compilations of divinity, by Wollebius 
and Ames, already noticed, were subservient. But 
Ames and Wollebius were not antitrinitarian writers. 
Nor had Milton himself approached the confines of 
Arianism, when to them he first resorted for theolo- 
gical information. For his elder nephew tells us, 
that when in 1640 his uncle instructed him and his 
brother, a portion of their exercise on Sundays was 
" the writing from his own dictation some part, 
from time to time, of a tractate which he thought 
Jit to collect from the ablest divines who had writ- 
ten of that subject, Amesius, Wollebius, &c. viz. 
A Perfect System of Divinity ; of which more 
hereafter." It is greatly to be lamented, that Phil- 
lips mentions this system or compilation no more. 
We ask, however, what were then when he began 
his collections, and what had been before, the opi- 
nions of Milton respecting the Holy Trinity ? The 
theme of his poetry in 1629, and of his devotion in 
1641, will best inform us. 

z The Treatise itself, Dr. Sumner's Transl. pp. 2, 3, 4. And 
see the obligations to Ames and Wollebius, stated by Dr. Sum- 
ner, Transl. p. 602. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 313 

" That glorious form, that light unsufferable, 

" And that far-beaming blaze of majesty, 

" Wherewith He wont at Heaven's high council-table 

" To sit the midst of Trinal Unity, 

" He laid aside." 

Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity. 

" Thou, therefore, that sittest in light and glory 
unapproachable, Parent of angels and men! next, 
Thee I implore, Omnipotent King, Redeemer of that 
lost remnant, whose nature Thou didst assume, in- 
effable and everlasting Love ! And Thou, the third 
subsistence of divine infinitude, illumining Spirit, the 
joy and solace of created things ! One Tripersonal 
Godhead! look upon this thy poor and almost spent 
and expiring Church." 

Of Reformation in England, B. 2. 

In this latter publication too, he speaks with con- 
tempt of the very heterodoxy, into which we see him 
afterwards fallen. " Constantius," he says, " proved 
aflat Avian, and Julian an apostate." And in his 
Animadversions upon the Remonstrant's Defence, 
published in the same year, he notices an ancient 
caution against " the Arians infecting people by 
their hymns and forms of prayer;" in accordance 
with his own remark upon them, in the preceding 
treatise of Reformation, as being " no true friends 
of Christ" But abundant examples there are, 
a throughout his printed works, of orthodoxy pro- 

a Yet on this subject Dr. Sumner has noticed real and im- 



314 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

fessed by Milton as to the eternal divinity of the Son 
of God, and the essential unity of the three divine 
persons in the Godhead. 

Whence, then, the desertion of this orthodoxy in 
the present compilation ? May we not think, that, 
in his speculations upon the theology of the times, 
he had treasured up the unsound positions of writers, 
who then, more especially in the Dutch and German 
schools of divinity, proclaimed to the world their 
dissent from the doctrine of the Trinity ? For when 
he says, " b For my own part, I adhere to the Holy 
Scriptures alone ; I follow no other heresy or sect ; 
I had not even read any of the works of hereticks, 
so called, when the mistakes of those who are reck- 
oned for orthodox, and their incautious handling of 
Scripture, first taught me to agree with their op- 
ponents whenever those opponents agreed with 
Scripture ;" when we attend to this confession, I say, 
who sees not in it some explanation as it were of 
the revolted spirit, which breathes through so many 
of his pages ? To " the Reformed divines of other 
countries" he c elsewhere repeatedly appeals in argu- 
ment; and, in the present treatise, often are his 



portant contradictions in the language of Milton, even in Para- 
dise Lost. See B. iii. 62—64, 138—140, 305—307, 350, 
384—415, B. v. 603—605, 719, 720, B. vi. 676—884, B. x. 
63—67, 85, 86, 225, 226. Transl. p. xxxiv. 

b Treatise, Transl. p. 7. 

c Considerations for removing Hirelings out of the Church, &c. 
And see his own statement, just cited from the treatise, p. 312. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 315 

sentiments and expressions in unison with those of 
Curcellseus, as well as with those of Wollebius, and of 
others. Perhaps he may be considered as illustrating 
his own remark in the Areopagitica : " That infection, 
which is from books of controversy in religion, is more 
dangerous to the learned than to the ignorant : 
It is not forgot, since the acute and distinct Armi- 
nius was perverted merely by the perusing of a 
nameless discourse written at Delft, which at first he 
took in hand to confute." 

Of the earliest leaning towards " the opponents 
of the orthodox? Paradise Lost perhaps suggests 
the inference. For if Milton's views respecting the 
Supreme Divinity of our Lord had been wholly 
different from what appears in the treatise, he 
would surely have availed himself of this sublime 
topick in his hymn of the angels in the presence of 
God the Father ; nor would he have omitted the 
theme, when Michael discloses to Adam the doctrine of 
the atonement. From Paradise Regained, his next 
poetical publication ; and from his Art of Logick, 
which soon followed that poem ; we may be also led 
to argue, that in them, as in his system of theology, 
he had departed from his former orthodoxy. But 
certainly Paradise Lost, according to Richardson, 
first occasioned the suspicion of his heresy in our 
own country. And in Italy it was, upon this ground, 
that in 1758 the Paradise Lost is found as a book 
proscribed in the Index librorum prohibitorum 
Benedicti XIV. Pont. Max. jussu recognitus,kc. 



316 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

then published : the work being adjudged, an Italian 
commentator says, to be " d infetta da solenni eresie, 
quali sono nel lihro ter%o il flngere che l'umanita 
di Cristo Signore abbia richiesto la di lui separa- 
zione dal Padre ; che Gesu Cristo sia non figlio na- 
turale dell' Eterno, ma adottivo ; non a lui equale, 
ma simile :" — and again, what may perhaps be 
thought also to apply to another part of the trea- 
tise ; " nel decimo lo spargere dubbii e questioni 
sull' immortalita dell' anima," 

Yet in this system Milton also states clearly, and 
defends powerfully, other doctrinal points, to which 
the orthodox yield their full assent. But this and 
some other distinctive portions of the treatise must 
be illustrated by parallels from the works which have 
long been known. From the Latin publications of 
Milton much indeed might be drawn, which hi- 
therto has been unpublished, to this purpose. And 
in this belief I have been confirmed by the friendly 
transmission from Dr. Sumner of many passages, 
not accompanying his e translation of the treatise, 
in agreement with my own examination ; an exa- 
mination to which I was led, by reason of an opi- 
nion which I knew to exist, that the judgement of 
the poet was against the use of Latin on subjects 
purely religious. Yet he had before acknowledged, 

(1 Saggio di Critica sul Paradise Perduto, &c. Vita di Milton, 
Scritta da Alessandro Pepoli, p. 68. 

e But his illustrations of this kind are very numerous. See 
also his Introduct. to the Treatise, p. xviii. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 317 

that f an address to all Christian magistrates 
ought to have been in Latin ; and an address now, 
g to all the Churches of Christ, we may therefore 
believe him determined to present in the h common 
language of Christendom. When he had written 
too his theological notions of divorce, he i wished 
that he had not written them in the vernacular 
tongue, as it exposed him, he says, to the perusal of 
vulgar readers, who knew not their own blessings 
and insulted the misfortunes of others. And to this 
topick he again referred, in a letter to one of his cor- 
respondents, k observing that as to his book upon 
divorce being translated into Dutch, he would have 
preferred a Latin version of it ; for, he adds, I 
know how the vulgar receive opinions, which are not 
agreeable to vulgar prejudice. 

1. The treatise opens with this ingenuous con- 
fession, in the translation by Dr. Sumner : " It was 
a great solace to me to have compiled, by God's 
assistance, a precious aid for my faith ; or rather to 
have laid up for myself a treasure which would 
be a provision for my future life" Pref. p. 4. 
So, in his Reason of Church Government: " I 



f In his address to the Parliament, prefixed to his Treatise of 
Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes. 

e Joannes Miltonus Anglus Universis Christi Ecclesiis, &c. 
Pref. to the Theological Treatise. 

h As he expresses himself in the Treatise of Civil Power. 

1 In his Defensio Secunda. 

k Epist. Fam. Leoni ab Aizema, dat. Feb. 5, 1654. 



318 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

have determined to lay up as the best treasure and 
solace of a good old age, if God vouchsafe it me, 
the honest liberty of free speech," &c. Again, in the 
Preface : " It has also been my object to make it 
appear from the opinions I shall be found to have 
advanced, whether new or old, of how much conse- 
quence to the Christian religion is the liberty not 
only of winnowing and sifting every doctrine, but 
also of thinking and even writing respecting it." So, 
in his Reformation of England: " That doctrine 
of the Gospel, planted by teachers divinely inspired, 
and by them winnowed and sifted from the chaff of 
overdated ceremonies." 

2. " Our safest way is to form in our minds such 
a conception of God, as shall correspond with his 
own delineation and representation of Himself in the 
sacred writings. For granting that, both in the 
literal and figurative descriptions of God, He is ex- 
hibited as He really is, but in such a manner as may 
be within the scope of our comprehensions ; yet we 
ought to entertain such a conception of Him, as He, 
in condescending to accommodate Himself to our 
capacities, has shewn that He desires we should con- 
ceive. For it is on this very account that He has 
lowered himself to our level, lest in our flights above 
the reach of human understanding, and beyond the 
written word of Scripture, we should be tempted to 
indulge in vague cogitations and subtleties." B. i. 
ch. 2. Of God. Thus in Paradise Lost, B. viii. 
167. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 319 

Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid ; 
Leave them to God above : Him serve, and fear ! 
" Heaven is for thee too hi^h 



" To know what passes there : Be lowly wise : 
" Think only what concerns thee, and thy being ; 
" Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there 
" Live, in what state, condition, or degree." 

In the same chapter of God, it is said, " that the 
power of God is not exerted in things which imply 
a contradiction ;" as in Par. Lost, B. x. 798. 

* Can He make deathless death ? That were to make 
" Strange contradiction, which to God himself 
" Impossible is held ; as argument 
" Of weakness, not of power :" 

the doctrine of the schoolmen, according to bishop 
Newton, which Dr. Sumner traces in Curcelleeus, 
and which Milton himself supports by the texts of 
2 Tim. ii. 13, Tit. i. 2, and Heb. vi. 18. 

3. " It is to be understood that God decreed no- 
thing absolutely, which He left in the power of free 
agents; a doctrine which is shewn by the whole 
canon of Scripture." B. i. ch. 3. Of the Divine 
Decrees. Dr. Sumner here observes, that the lines 
in the third book of Par. Lost, beginning at ver. 
95, and ending with ver. 130, contain the sum of 
the doctrine laid down by Milton in this and the 
following chapter ; and that the coincidences of ex- 
pression are not unfrequently as striking as the simi- 
larity of reasoning. In the same chapter : " God 



320 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



had determined from all eternity, that man should 
so far be a free agent, that it remained with himself 
to decide whether he would stand or fall." So in 
Par. Lost, B. v. 233. 



— " Such discourse bring on, 

" As may advise him of his happy state, 
" Happiness in his power left free to will, 
u Left to his own free will, his will though free, 
" Yet mutable ; whence warn him to beware 
" He swerve not, too secure." 

Yet one more extract from this chapter : " God of 
his wisdom determined to create men and ang-els 
reasonable beings, and therefore free agents." And 
thus in Par. Lost, B. ix. 351. 

" God left free the will ; for what obeys 



" Reason, is free ; and reason He made right ; 
" But bid her well be ware, and still erect." 

4. " Without searching deeper into this subject, 
let us be contented with only knowing, that God, 
out of his infinite mercy and grace in Christ, has 
predestinated to salvation all who should believe." 
B. i. ch. 4. Of Predestination. Thus in Par. Lost, 
B. xii. 424. 

" Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems, 
" His death for man, as many as offer'd life 
" Neglect not, and the benefit embrace 
" By faith not void of works." 

5. " This point appears certain, notwithstanding 
the arguments of some of the moderns to the con- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 321 

trary, that the Son existed in the beginning, under 
the name of the logos or word, and was the first of 
the whole creation, by whom afterwards all other 
things were made both in heaven and earth." B. L 
ch. 5. Of the So?i of God, So in the hymn of the 
angels, Par. Lost, B. hi. 383. 

"Thee next they sang of all creation first, 

" Begotten Son, Divine Similitude, 

" In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud 

" Made visible, the Almighty Father shines, 

" Whom else no creature can behold ; on thee 

" Impress'd the effulgence of his glory abides, 

" Transfus'd on thee his ample Spirit rests. 

" He Heaven of Heavens, and all the Powers therein, 

" By thee created." 

Here it may be observed, that in his exposition of 
what is said in the treatise Milton cites Col, i. 15, 
and Rev, hi. 14 ; passages, which bishop Newton 
applied to the illustration of the poetry, without any 
suspicion of their being employed in the cause of 
heterodoxy ; and from which, as from the lines in- 
debted to them, no succeeding commentator has 
drawn the Arian interpretation. In truth the pas- 
sage declares, what the context to the words of St. 
Paul declare, {Col. i. 16, 17,) that the Son of God 
is the Creator of all things, (which indeed the poet 
repeats, Par, Lost, B. v. 835,) that he was " ] before 
all creatures, and made all creatures, which is enough," 
Dr. Waterland observes, "to silence the Arians." But 

1 Sermons on the Divinity of our Lord Christ, Serm. II. 

Y 



322 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the summary of Milton's opinions, collected by the 
learned translator from the present chapter, distinctly 
shows, that they were now " m in reality nearly Arian, 
ascribing to the Son as high a share of divinity as was 
compatible with the denial of his self-existence and 
eternal generation, but not admitting his co-equality 
and co-essentiality with the Father." What orthodox 
member of the Church of England will not with Dr. 
Sumner regret, that the n mighty mind of Milton in 
its conscientious, though mistaken, search after truth, 
had not an opportunity of examining those masterly 
refutations of the Arian scheme, for which Christi- 
anity is indebted to the labours of bishop Bull and 
Dr. Waterland ; more especially, I may add, as the 
labours of the former appeared so near his own time, 
and were successfully directed against the very per- 
sons by whose unsound theology I have ° supposed 
him misled. For when the Defensio Fidei Nicence 
of Bull was finished, which was in 1680 ; " p about 
that time," the pious biographer of the prelate tells 
us, " and for some years before, there were seve- 
ral Arian and Socinian pieces published in Holland, 
and dispersed in England, written by some learned 
men that were fled thither out of Poland and Prus- 
sia." In the interval between the production of his 
two epick poems, he drank largely perhaps from 
these turbid streams. And it is from passages in 

m Introduct. p. xxxiv. 

n Ibid. p. xxxv. 

See before, p. 314. 

» Nelson's Life of Bishop Bull, p. 280. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 323 

Paradise Regained that criticism first culled at 
least the language of Arius or Socinus ; which Mr. 
Calton however considers as adopted to surprise the 
angels, in their " beholding the triumphs of the Man 
Christ Jesus over the enemy of mankind, with the 
glorious discovery of the God, enshrined in fleshy 
tabernacle and human form;" while Dr. Warton, 
whose remark I long since presented to the publick, 
observes, " that there is not a word here said of the 
Son of God, {Par. Reg. B. i. 163—167,) but what 
a Socinian, or at least an Arian would allow ; and 
that the same observation may be made on some 
other remarkable passages of the poem." In the Art 
of Logick, which was published in the year after this 
poem, there is a very curious coincidence too with a 
remark in the present chapter as applied to a denial of 
the co-essentiality of the Father and the Son, " q which 
could scarcely have been expected to be found," Dr. 
Sumner says, in a treatise on Logick. " He of ivhom 
are all things is clearly distinguished from him bij 
whom are all things ; and if a difference of causa- 
tion prove a difference of essence, he is distinguished 
also in essence. Besides, since a numerical differ- 
ence originates in difference of essence, those who 
are two numerically, must be also two essentially." 
Thus the treatise of religion ; and thus the art of 
logick : " Numerus, ut recte Scaliger, est affectio 
essentiam consequens. Quae igitur numero, essentia 
quoque differunt ; et nequaquam numero, nisi essen- 



i Transl. p. 92. 

y 2 



324 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LTFE 

tia, differrent :" that is. Things which differ in num- 
ber, differ also in essence ; and they would by no 
means differ in number, unless in essence. And then 
he adds, as if in remembrance of the theology he was 
studying, " Evigilent hie theologi :" Let theologians 
here be on their guard. I will repay the caution 
which he gives with one admirable example of atten- 
tion in this respect, out of many that might be cited, 
by a very vigilant and learned divine of the English 
Church ; especially as it silences the position which 
has been cited from the treatise. " r One objection 
to the Arian scheme is, that it can never be recon- 
ciled with the unity of the divine nature, but infal- 
libly infers a plurality of Gods. This may very 
briefly be evinced by asking this plain question : 
Hath this person, the Son, and whom you entitle 
God, the same individual essential properties with 
God the Father, as eternity, omnipresence, and the 
like ; or has he different and distinct essential pro- 
perties from those of the Father ? The former no 
Arian can say, consistently with his own scheme ; for 
if the Son be allowed to have the very same essential 
properties with his Father, he must then be consub- 
stantial with him, and thus the Arian will become a 
Catholick : And to assert the latter, that their 
essential properties are different, is evidently to 
assign them two distinct essences, and therefore 

r Sermon upon the several heterodox hypotheses concerning 
both the persons and the attributes of the Godhead, &c. by W. 
Stephens, M.A. Vicar of St. Andrew, Plymouth. Oxford, 1725, 
p. 11. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 325 

they must be two different Gods. Different per- 
sonal properties indeed do only infer a difference of 
persons; and upon this the Catholick scheme is 
founded, which supposes a difference of persons, 
and yet an unity of essence, — s We assert three dis- 
tinct persons, in order to avoid a nominal Trinity 
only ; and we maintain one numerical essence undi- 
vided in these persons, that we may not carry the 
least appearance of tritheism. We hold the divine 
essence to be one indivisible essence; we contend 
that this essence was in an ineffable manner commu- 
nicated to the Son and Holy Ghost from all eter- 
nity ; in which communication, as there was no 
division or separation of the nature, so that unity is 
still preserved, and the distinction of persons withal 
unquestionable. We deny that these persons are 
co-ordinate, lest we fall into polytheism ; yet the 
subordination which we maintain is not of nature, 
but merely of persons, lest we run into Arianism. 
Our scheme will stand clear from the charge of Sa- 
bellianism, till it can be shewn that three subsistences, 
each of which has distinct personal properties, are 
but a Trinity of names and mere modes. We shall 
also stand as clear from the imputation of tritheism, 
till our adversaries can demonstrate, what surely they 
never will pretend to do, that distinct personal pro- 
perties must as necessarily divide and multiply the 
divine essence, as they do the human. The little 
insight, which we have into the manner of the sub- 

s Ibid. p. 34. 



326 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

sistenee of the divine nature, will for ever be 
a bar to such a demonstration." — For the intro- 
duction of these pertinent sentences, no apology, 
I trust, is requisite. The reader of the treatise 
will find them applicable also to other parts of 
it : for the eternity of the Holy Spirit, and the es- 
sential unity of the three Divine Persons, are denied 
in it. 

6. The next parallels are of no controversial bear- 
ing, but illustrative merely of Milton's phraseology. 
" They are constantly shifting the form of their rea- 
soning, Vertumnus-like? B. i. ch. 5. Of the Son 
of God. So, in his Tetrachordon : " Let him try 
which way he can wind in his Vertumnian distinc- 
tions and evasions." And in his Pro Pop. Angl. 
JDef " Vertit rationes, et annon rex cum optima- 
tibus plus potestatis habeat quserit; iterum nego, 
Vertumne" &c. 

7. The ministry of angels is a favourite subject 
with Milton ; and he devotes a chapter to it in this 
treatise. Numerous are the parallels in it with his 
poetry which might be given. The knowledge which 
he assigns to the evil angels is too remarkable to be 
omitted : " Their knowledge is great, but such as 
tends rather to aggravate than diminish their misery; 
so that they utterly despair of their salvation." B. i. 
ch. 9. Of the Special Government of Angels. 
Herein are compressed the varied descriptions of 
their punishment in Paradise Lost : 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 327 

" The thought 

" Both of lost happiness, and lasting pain, 
" Torments him." B. i. 54. 



f i.- 



Hope never comes 



" That comes to all." B. i. 66. 



" We are decreed, 



" Reserv'd, and destined to eternal woe ; 
" Whatever doing, what can we suffer more, 
" What can we suffer worse V B. ii. 160. 

" Me miserable ! which way shall I fly 

" Infinite wrath, and infinite despair V' B. iv. 73. 

8. The chapter, which follows that upon the go- 
vernment of angels, treats of Divorce ; in which the 
opinions are so entirely in accordance with his Doc- 
trine and Discipline of the subject, with his Te- 
tracliordon, and his Colasterion, as to need no 
extract from either. But it is curious to observe, 
that in this chapter the only direct reference to him- 
self throughout the treatise occurs. He cites Selden 
to his point, and adds, " as I have myself shewn in 
another treatise from several texts of Scripture ;" 
which Dr. Sumner, to whom we owe this observa- 
tion, has discovered to be his Tetrachordon. But 
from his defence of this doctrine, which was de- 
nounced from the * pulpit and ridiculed by the wits, 
he here proceeds to advocate the lawfulness of poly- 
gamy. Whether from the fanaticks of his own 
country, and of his earlier days, who maintained 

4 See what is said upon this subject in the preceding pages, 
p. 61, seq. 



328 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" u that it is lawful to have many wives," and with 
whom indeed he is coupled in the x accusatory ser- 
mon which brought him before the lords for his Trea- 
tise of Divorce ; whether from these, or from the 
insidious disputants of other lands, he imbibed a 
tenet, which we should rather have expected to find 
him overwhelming with indignant refutation; la- 
mentable it certainly is, that he contends for what 
had been permitted in the patriarchal times, under 
particular circumstances, as an universal law ; con- 
tends indeed for what, if admitted, would uncivilize 
Christian society, by dissolving the legitimate ties of 
wedded love, and weakening all the charities of do- 
mestick life. But the low estimation, in which he 
held the weaker sex in general, perhaps occasioned 
him to disregard that thus he was also pleading for 
what he calls " y the despotick power of man over his 
female in due awe ;" in other words, for what would 
serve to harden men into tyrants. It is remarkable 
that in the year 1674, at the close of which Milton 
died, this revolting subject had been obtruded upon 
the world, with the most mischievous profusion, by 
a foreign writer. Lyser, the champion as he has 
been called of polygamy, had visited England and 
other parts of Europe in order to collect whatever 
might assist his purpose in forming the detestable 
volume, entitled Polygamia Triumphatrix ; and of 

tt Pagitt's Description of Hereticks and Sectaries, sprang up in 
these latter times, 1654, p. 24. 

x By Mr. Herb. Palmer. See before, p. 64. 
y Samson Agonist, ver. 1054. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 329 

Selden's learning he has largely availed himself, when 
he finds the subject of divorce in any way subservient 
to the offensive doctrine which he maintains. To 
Milton there is no allusion. The Practical Cate- 
chism of Hammond, I should add, which was pub- 
lished in the year in which the Doctrine and Dis- 
cipline of Divorce first appeared, and again in 1646, 
might have rectified the notions of Milton respecting 
both divorce and polygamy. But eminently learned 
and pious as he knew Hammond to be, he would 
disdain to be taught by him who had proclaimed, 
as if in personal allusion, " z It is not the husband's 
dislikes which can excuse him for putting away 
his wife" 

8. " The sin which is common to all men is that 
which our first parents, and in them all their poste- 
rity, committed ; when, casting off their obedience 
to God, they tasted the fruit of the forbidden tree." 
B. i. ch. 11. Of the Fall of our first Parents, and 
of Sin. Thus in Par. Lost. 

" His crime makes guilty all his sons." B. iii. 290. 

" In me all 

" Posterity stands curs'd ; fair patrimony 
" That I must leave you, sons." B. xi. 317. 

9. " Under the head of death, in Scripture, all 
evils whatever, together with every thing which in its 
consequences tends to death, must be understood as 

z Hammond's Works, vol. i. p. 46. 



330 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

comprehended ; for mere bodily death, as it is called, 
did not follow the sin of Adam on the self-same day, 
as God had threatened." B. i. ch. 12. Of the pu- 
nishment of Sin. So, in Par. Lost. 



The fruit 



" Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 

" Brought death into the world, and all our woe." B. i. 1. 

— " My sole command 

" Transgress'd, inevitably thou shalt die, 
" From that day mortal." B. viii. 329. 

10. Speaking of Christ in his human nature, Mil- 
ton says, " he might ' increase in wisdom,' Luke ii. 
52, by means of the understanding which he previ- 
ously possessed, and might ( know all things,' John 
xxi. 17, namely, through the teaching of the Father, 
as he himself acknowledged." B. i. ch. 14. Of 
Man's restoration, and of Christ as Redeemer. 
Thus in the soliloquy of our Lord in Par. Regained, 
B. i. 290. 

" Now by some strong motion I am led 

" Into the wilderness, to what intent 

" I know not yet, perhaps I need not know ; 

" For what concerns my knowledge God reveals." 

The whole soliloquy, Mr. Calton long since observed 
on the passage, is formed upon an opinion which 
has authorities enough to give it credit, and which 
accordingly he cites from Beza, Gerhard, Grotius, 
and our own Tillotson and Whitby. 

11. The mediatorial office of Christ is that 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 331 

whereby, at the special appointment of God the Fa- 
ther, he voluntarily performed, and continues to per- 
form, on behalf of man, whatever is requisite for obtain- 
ing reconciliation with God, and eternal salvation." 
B. i. ch. 15. Of the functions of the Mediator, and 
of his threefold office. As in Par, Reg, B. i. 164. 

" Men hereafter may discern 



" From what consummate virtue I have chose 
" This perfect Man, by merit call'd my Son, 
" To earn salvation for the sons of men." 

Again : " The name and office of mediator is in a 
certain sense ascribed to Moses, as a type of Christ." 
Ibid. So in Par, Lost, B. xii. 239. 



To God is no access 



" Without mediator, whose high office now 
" Moses in figure bears, to introduce 
" One greater." 

12. " The exaltation of Christ is that by which, 
having triumphed over death, and laid aside the 
form of a servant, he was exalted by God the Father 
to a state of immortality and of the highest glory, 
partly by his own merits, partly by the gift of the 
Father, for the benefit of mankind; wherefore he 
rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and 
sitteth on the right hand of God." B. i. ch. 16. 
Of the Ministry of Redemption, Thus in Par. 
Lost, B. hi. 317. 

" All power 



** I give thee ; reign for ever, and assume 
" Thy merits." — 



332 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Again: " As Christ emptied himself in both his 
natures, so both participate in his exaltation; his 
Godhead, by its restoration and manifestation ; his 
manhood, by an accession of glory." Ibid. So in 
Par. Lost, B. iii. 313. 

" Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt 
" With thee thy manhood also to this throne ; 
" Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign 
" Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man, 
" Anointed universal King." 

Again, " The satisfaction of Christ is the complete 
reparation made by him, in his twofold capacity of 
God and Man, by the fulfilment of the law and pay- 
ment of the required price for all mankind." Ibid. 
So in Par. Lost. 

" Die he or justice must ; unless for him 

" Some other able, and as willing, pay 

" The rigid satisfaction, death for death." B. iii. 209. 

— ■" So man, as is most just, 



" Shall satisfy for man." B. iii. 294. 
u To the cross he nails thy enemies, 



" The law that is against thee, and the sins 
" Of all mankind, with him there crucified, 
" Never to hurt them more who rightly trust 
" In this his satisfaction." B. xii. 415. 

13. " Although it is the duty of believers to join 
themselves, if possible, to a church duly constituted, 
Heb. x. 25, yet such as cannot do this conveniently, 
or with full satisfaction of conscience, are not to be 
considered as excluded from the blessing bestowed 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 333 

by God on the churches." B. i. ch. 29. Of the 
Visible Church. This is an important passage, Dr. 
Sumner says, " because it discloses Milton's real views 
upon a point, on which his opinions have been repre- 
sented in a more unfavourable light than they seem 
to have deserved." Bishop Newton remarks, " that 
in the latter part of his life Milton was not a pro- 
fessed member of any particular sect of Christians, 
that he frequented no publick worship, nor used any 
religious rite in his family. Whether so many dif- 
ferent forms of worship as he had seen had made him 
indifferent to all forms ; or whether he thought that 
all Christians had in some things corrupted the pu- 
rity and simplicity of the Gospel ; or whether he dis- 
liked their endless and uncharitable disputes, and 
that love of dominion and inclination to persecution 
which he said was a piece of popery inseparable from 
all churches ; or whether he believed that a man 
might be a good Christian without joining in any 
communion ; or whether he did not look upon him- 
self inspired, as wrapt up in God, and above all 
forms and ceremonies ; it is not easy to determine : 
to his own master he standeth orfalleth : but if he 
was of any denomination, he was a sort of Quietist, 
and was full of the interior of religion, though he so 
little regarded the exterior." It has been candidly 
and judiciously stated in a note upon this passage by 
Mr. Hawkins, to which Dr. Sumner refers, " a that 



a Life of Milton, prefixed to the Poet. Works, 1 824, vol. i. 
p. 101. 



334 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the reproach, which has been thrown upon Milton, 
of frequenting no place of publick worship in his 
latter days, should be received, as Dr. Symmons 
observes, with some caution. His blindness and 
other infirmities might be in part his excuse ; and it 
is certain, that his daily employments were always 
ushered in by devout meditation and study of the 
Scriptures." This observation too may be strength- 
ened by Milton's expressly admitting, in the present 
treatise, the duty of uniting in practice external and 
internal worship, (B. ii. ch. 4.) though he also says, 
that " with regard to the place of prayer, all are 
equally suitable," as in his Par. Lost, he makes a 
similar assertion, E. xi. 836 ; and though he b inac- 
curately says, that " the Lord's Prayer was intended 
rather as a model of supplication, than as a form to 
be repeated verbatim by the Apostles, or by Christian 
Churches at the present day : hence the superfluous- 
ness of set forms of worship." Here indeed he pre- 
sents himself before us with the prejudice of his 
earlier years : " c That which the Apostles taught 
hath freed us in religion from the ordinances of men, 
and commands that burdens be not laid upon the re- 
deemed of Christ ; though the formalist will say, 
what, no decency in God's worship ? Certainly, 
readers, the worship of God, singly in itself, the very 
act of prayer and thanksgiving, with those free and 
unimposed expressions which from a sincere heart 

b See St. Matt. vi. 9. St. Luke xi. 2. 
c In his Apology for Smectymmius. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 335 

unbidden come into the outward gesture, is the 
greatest decency that can be imagined." Hence 
also his strange opinion : " d I believe that God is no 
more moved with a prayer elaborately penned, than 
men truly charitable are moved with the penned 
speech of a beggar." He accordingly ascribes, as 
Dr. Sumner remarks, extemporaneous effusions to 
our first parents, Par. Lost, B. v. 144. To his 
notions of the external services of religion Dr. John- 
son has opposed this fine remark ; that " e to be of 
no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the re- 
wards are distant, and which is animated only by 
faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind, 
unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external 
ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salu- 
tary influence of example." 

Again, in this chapter, Of the Visible Church. 
" Any believer is competent to act as an ordinary 
minister, according as convenience may require ; pro- 
vided only he be endowed with the necessary gifts ; 
these gifts constituting his mission." Thus, in his 
Considerations how to remove Hirelings out of 
the Church, he contends, that " the Gospel makes 
no difference from the magistrate himself to the 
meanest artificer, if God evidently favour him with 
spiritual gifts ;" a notion, indeed, which he has re- 
peatedly expressed, in his zeal to proclaim any be- 



d In his Iconoclastes. 
e Life of Milton. 



336 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

liever competent to preach the Gospel : the very 
endeavour of fanaticism at its height in an address 
to the Parliament in 1653, preserved too among the 
c papers of Milton, and upon which it should seem 
that he had cast an eye of fond regard ; the eighth 
proposition in this address being as follows : " That 
it may be lawful for all men, of what degree or qua- 
lity soever, to teach the Word, according to their 
light and the Spirit's illumination, and to settle 
themselves in the ministry, giving good testimony of 
their inward call thereunto by the Spirit." Again, 
in the chapter before us, " Pastors and teachers are 
the gift of the same God who gave apostles and pro- 
phets, and not of any human institution whatever." 
So in the Considerations before cited, " It is a foul 
error, though too much believed among us, to think 
that the university makes a minister of the Gospel : 
what it may conduce to other arts and sciences, I 
dispute not now ; but that which makes fit a minis- 
ter, the Scripture can best inform us to be only from 
above, whence also we are bid to seek them." Here 
the address, with which Milton accords in the pre- 
ceding extract, courteously notices both universities ; 
and proposes, " d that two colleges in each should 
be set apart for such as wholly and solely apply 
themselves to the study of attaining and enjoying 
the spirit of our Lord Jesus, to which study needs 
few bookes, or outward human helps ; so that only 

f Original Letters and Papers of State, &c. found among the 
political collections of Mr. John Milton, ut supr. p. 100. 
fi Original Lett, ut supr. p. 99. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 337 

the Holy Scriptures would be sufficient ; but that 
the noble minde of man soaringe beyond the letter 
or rule held out from the same, therefore the worlces 
of Jacob Behmen, and such like, who had true re- 
velation from the true Spirit, would be great fur- 
therance thereto ! And none but the Holy Scrip- 
tures, and such bookes aforesaid, should be used in 
these colleges, all in English. This study, rightly 
attained, would confute and confound the pride and 
vaine glory of outward human learning, strong rea- 
son, and high astral parts, and would shew men the 
true ground and depth of all things ; for it would 
lead men into the true nothing, in which they may 
behold and speculate all things to a clear satisfac- 
tion and contentedness !" Such was the meditated 
improvement of academical institutions, in the age 
of triumphant fanaticism, not quite in unison with 
the present h disesteem of them by Milton ; a cir- 
cumstance too curious to be overpassed. 

13. " It is evident, that the use of the Scriptures 
is prohibited to no one ; but that, on the contrary, 
they are adapted for the daily hearing or reading of 
all classes and orders of men ; of princes, Deut. xvii. 
19, of magistrates, Josh. i. 8, of men of all descrip- 
tions, Deut. xxxi. 9—11, &c." B. i. ch. 30. Of the 
Holy Scriptures. Thus in his Treatise of True 
Religion ; " The papal antichristian church permits 

h His severity against them is more strongly shewn at the 
close of his Considerations to remove Hirelings out of the Church. 



338 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

not her laity to read the Bible in their own tongue ; 
our Church on the contrary hath proposed it to all 
men. Neither let the countryman, the tradesman, 
the lawyer, the physician, the statesman, excuse 
himself by his much business from the studious read- 
ing thereof." Again, in the present chapter : " Nei- 
ther can we trust implicitly in matters of this nature 
to the opinions of our forefathers, or of antiquity." 
As in his Prelatical Episcopacy : " If we turn this 
our discreet and wary usage of them into a blind 
devotion towards them, and whatsoever we find writ- 
ten by them, we both forsake our own grounds and 
reasons which led us at first to part from Rome, 
that is, to hold to the Scriptures against all anti- 
quity." Milton, in the present treatise, opposes in- 
deed with firm but temperate observation the Church 
of Rome. The cause of Protestantism we know him 
to have always had most at heart ; and in behalf of 
it we remember his opinion, elsewhere delivered, 
that the religious consideration of the Romish te- 
nets may not be separated from the political. 

14. " The subject of the first book was Faith, or 
the Knowledge of God. The second treats of the 
Service or Love of God." B. ii. ch. 1. Of Good 
Works. So in his Treatise of Civ. Power in 
Eccl. Causes : " What evangelick religion is, is 
told in two words, Faith and Charity, or Belief and 
Practice." 

15. " All these, with numberless other saints, are 



AND WHITINGS OF MILTON. 339 

by a more careful inquiry into the nature of truth 
rescued, as it were, from the new limbus patrum to 
which the vulgar definition had consigned them." 
B. ii. ch. 13. Of the second Class of special Du- 
ties towards our Neighbour. This appears, Dr. 
Sumner has also observed, to be a favourite allusion 
with Milton. 

" All these, upwhirl'd aloft, 



Fly o'er the backside of the world far off 
Into a Limbo large and broad." 

Par. Lost, B. iii. 493. 



«' Their mysterious iniquity sought out new Lim- 
boes and new Hells, wherein they might include our 
books," &c. Areopagitica. " Te Deum has a 
smatch in it of limbus patrum? &c. Apol.for 
Smectymmms. 

16. I shall cite one other remarkable passage 
from the translation on the payment of tithes, with 
its parallels, from the thirty-first chapter of the first 
book ; in which also Milton appears directly to allude 
to the ministers of the Presbyterian establishment in 
his time. And the passage to be adduced is this : 
" What are we to think of a pastor, who for the 
recovery of claims thus founded, an abuse unknown 
to any reformed church but our own, enters into 
litigation ,with his own flock," &c. Dr. Sumner 
here introduces a parallel from Milton's printed 
works, in which the " English divines, and they only 

z 2 



340 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

of all \ Protestants? are accused upon the subject 
of tithes ; but note the following. " Deliver us/' 
Milton says to the Parliament in 1659, " the only 
people of all Protestants left still undelivered from 
the oppressions of a simonious decimating clergy." 
Consid. to remove Hirelings out of the Church, 
Dedication. 

I might select in this manner many other trans- 
lated passages from the extraordinary compilation 
before us, some of which, as they respect conditional 
election, justification, assurance, and final perse- 
verance, are judicious, and would be valued ; while 
others, as they relate to the sabbath, the decalogue, 
the sacraments, and the soul, are uninviting, and 
would be unprofitable. But enough : for it is due 
to the learned reader, that I should produce from 
the Latin compositions of Milton the simple phrase 
or form of expression, the imagination or the thought, 
agreeing with passages in the original language of 
the treatise. And of such, I can truly say, the 
number is not small. I offer the following. 

1. " Latibula non quaero." Prcef — " Frustra tibi 
ista latibula quaesisti." Defensio Secunda. 

2. " Nullam interim agnoscimus necessitatem 
aliam, nisi quam Logica, id est, ratio docet." Lib. i. 
cap. 3. — " Multoque minus constitui, canones quid- 
vis potius quam logicos, a theologis infercire ; quos 
illi, quasi subornatos in suum usum, tanquam e me- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 341 

dia logica petitos, depromant de Deo, divinisque 
hypostasibus et sacramentis ; quorum ratione, quo 
modo est ab ipsis informata, nihil est a Logica, ade- 
oque ab ipsa ratione, alienius." Artis Log. Institu- 
tio. Here, besides the similar expression in the con- 
cluding sentence, a remarkable coincidence of opi- 
nion presents itself, as Dr. Sumner has observed to 
me, respecting other subjects discussed in the treatise. 

3. " Joan. xvii. 3. Hcec est vita aterna, ut cog- 
noscant te ilium solum verum Deum, et quern mi- 
sis ti, Jesum Christum. Et xx. 17. Ascendo ad 
Patrem meum et Patrem vestrum, et ad Deum 
meum et Deum vestrum. Certe si Pater est Deus 
Christi et Deus noster, Deusque est unus, quis est 
Deus prseter Patrem ?" Lib. i. cap. 5. — " Exclu- 
siva quidem est vel subjecti vel praedicati ; subjecti, 
quae, nota exclusiva prasposita, excludit omnia sub- 
jecta alia a praedicato. Sed frustra hanc regulam 
ratio dictarit, si logicis quibusdam modernis, et no- 
minatim Keckermanno, licebit, earn statim, conflato 
ad id ipsum canone, funditus evertere. ' Exclusiva,' 
inquit, ' subjecti non excludit concomitantia : ut, 
solus Pater est verus Deus. Hie,' inquit, ' non 
excluditur concomitans, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus.' 
At quis non videt subornatum hunc canonem ad 
locum ilium luculentissimum Joan. xvii. 3. ludifican- 
dum ? — Sed, omissis theologorum paradoxis, ad pras- 
cepta logica redeamus." Artis Log. Instil. 

4. " Quid, quod voci Elohim nunc adjectivum, 



342 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

nunc verbum plurale adjunctum, reperitur." Lib. i. 
cap. 5. A common form of expression in the treatise : 
So in his Pro Populo Ang. Def. Praef. " Quid, quod 
ipsum etiam episcopatum suadet, atque defendit." 

5. " Ab evangelio ad legis tempora, quod mirum 
est, recurrunt, qui Patrem et Filium essentia esse 
unum volunt ; et lucem tenebris illustrare conan- 
tur." Lib. i. cap. 5. — " Dum in hac luce veritatis 
et sapientiae versari licebit, frustra nobis obscu- 
riorum setatum tenebras offundere conaris." Pro 
Pop. Ang. Def. 

6. " Deinde conjugium, relationis in genere esse : 
relationis antem unius terminos duntaxat esse duos : 
quemadmodum igitur si quis multos habeat filios, 
relatio paterna erga omnes illos multiplex, erga sin- 
gulares una atque simplex erit ; pari ratione, si quis 
uxores habeat plures, non minus erga singulas in- 
tegra relatio erit." Lib. i. cap. 10. — " Nee magis 
video cur in uno relato singulari non possit ad cor- 
relata multa esse multiplex relatio ; dummodo rela- 
tio una numero inter bina tantummodo sit, totiesque 
consideretur quot sint correlata; patris nimirum, 
toties quot sunt fllii ; filii, quot sunt parentes, pater 
nempe et mater ; fratris, quot sunt fatres et sorores : 
nam nisi quicquid de relatis in genere dici solet, de sin- 
gulis quoque relatis vere dicatur." Artis Log. Instit 

7. " Nam quod sic disputant ex Matt. v. 32, si 
vir dimissa priori uxore aliam ducens moeckatur, 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 343 

multo magis si priori retenta aliara duxerit, id 
ejusmodi est profecto, ut argumentum ipsum pro 
adulter io sit protinus repudiandum." Lib. i. cap, 
10. Dr. Sumner,, in the translation of this passage 
observes, that the original id ejusmodi -&c. " affords 
no satisfactory sense. The fondness for that play 
upon words which is so characteristick of Milton, 
and of which this treatise furnishes numerous exam- 
ples, renders it not improbable that it was originally 
written pro adulter mo, for which the amanuensis, 
employed in transcribing this part of the manuscript, 
substituted the more common word adulterio? 
This ingenious conjecture is strengthened by the 
following passage in the Defensio Secunda : " Si 
quis declamatiunculas, quas etiam ancillaris concu- 
bitus, adulterinas edixit et spurias, Morilli nothi 
gemellas, fide satis locupletes arbitrate esse," &c. 

8. " Deut. xvii. 17. Neque midtiplicato sibi 
uxores, &c. Jam vero sat scimus primam illam con- 
jugii institutionem tarn regi quam plebeio promul- 
gatam : si unam duntaxat permittit uxorem, ne regi 
quidem permittit plures." Lib i. cap. 10. — " Regi 
etiam futuro leges constituit, quibus cautum erat, 
ut * ne multiplicet sibi equos, ne uxores, ne divitias ;' 
ut intelligeret nihil sibi in alios licere, qui nihil cle se 
statuere extra legem potuit. — Ex quo perspicuum 
est, regem asque ac populum istis legibus astrictum 
fuisse." Pro Pop. Aug. Def. 

9. " Cedit ergo conjugium religioni ; cedit, ut 



344 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

supra, juri herili." Lib. i. cap. 10. — " Suadet na- 
tura populo, ut tyrannorum violentiae nonnunquam 
cedat, cedat temporibus." Pro Pop. Ang. Def. 

10. " In quo bonum ilium latronem caeteris Sanc- 
tis fuisse aggregatum sine noxa equidem existimem." 
Lib. i. cap. 13. Dr. Sumner thus translates this 
passage, p. 291. " It was in this state, as appears 
to me, that the penitent thief was united to the 
other saints without punishment for sin" But, in 
his additions and corrections at the close of his vo- 
lume, he says : " The passage may perhaps be more 
faithfully rendered, according to the literal sense of 
the word noxa, without pollution, that is, without 
polluting the other saints by his company ; a poet- 
ical allusion, founded on the Greek and Roman no- 
tions of pollution." The phrase is thus employed, 
(Dr. Sumner agrees with me in observing,) in Mil- 
ton's Supplementum to his Defensio contra Alex- 
andrum Morum : " In quasi Rheno amne lustratus 
(quo ( devectum te in Belgium' ais) et noxa omni 
ablutus," &c. 

11. " Humana antem natura Christi, quamvis in 
summa gloria sit, tamen definito in loco est, et non 
ubique." Lib. i. cap. 16. — " Peccatur autem ter- 
minis pluribus, vel apertius vel tectius. — Sic etiam 
cum non iisdem verbis aliud plane proponitur, aliud 
assumitur : ut, dextera Dei est ubique ; humanitas 
Christi sedet ad dextram Dei ; ergo, humanitas 
Christi est ubique," Artis Log. Instil." 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 345 

12. " Particulares vero sunt multas, suis in se 
numeris omnes absolutae." Lib. i. cap. 31. — " Par- 
lamentum omnibus numeris absolutum." Pro Pop. 
Ang. Def. Again, " Cognoscite nunc, si unquam 
alias, hypocritam numeris omnibus absolutum." Def. 
contra Alex. Morum. A Ciceronian expression, Dr. 
Sumner remarks, which Milton has applied, in Par. 
Lost, to the Deity, B. viii. 421. 

" Through all numbers absolute, though one." 



13. " Juxta illud tritum, Cui nullum est jus, ei 
nulla fit injuria." Lib. ii. cap. 13. — " Quibus 
nullum est jus, iis nulla fit injuria." Artis Log. 
Instit. 

I must observe that the treatise closes so abruptly, 
as to support an opinion that it is an unfinished 
composition. And certainly the interlineations, cor- 
rections, and pasted slips of writing, in the manu- 
script, excite a belief that further revision was pro- 
bably intended ; revision perhaps, which would have 
produced still more to commend and admire than at 
present, and less with which to differ or remonstrate. 
They leave the reader also in that suspense, re- 
specting the work, which Toland long since ex- 
pressed; namely, " i Milton wrote a System of 
Divinity, but whether intended for publick view, 
or collected merely for his own use, I cannot de- 
termine." 

1 Life- of Milton. 



346 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

While these remarks have been passing through 
the press, the authenticity indeed of the manuscript 
has been questioned. I must therefore retrace my 
steps, and proceed with redoubled care, in order 
to establish it. The present amplitude of the 
work is one of the arguments alleged against it. 
And it has been assumed, that the compilation was 
not begun before the close of Milton's controversy 
with Salmasius in 1655 ; and that his numerous 
publications, from that period to the year of his 
death, render therefore the production also of a 
composition so large, and so elaborate, improbable. 
I repeat, what I firmly believe, that this treatise is 
the gradual accumulation of passages from theolo- 
gical writers, which he had first directed to he co- 
pled so early as in 1640 by his nephews, and from 
time to time to be continued; an employment, 
which, during the more active scenes of his secretary- 
ship, he had little leisure perhaps to pursue and re- 
gulate ; but to which, when he was relieved in his 
official duties by a substitute, he appears to have 
turned his attention, and to have then commenced, 
as Anthony Wood terms it, (e the framing his Body 
of Divinity ;" that is, as I interpret the expression, 
the arrangement of numerous materials which he 
had collected, and a determination to gather more 
through the means of his several amanuenses, in 
order to shew his opinions upon a subject, which in- 
deed he had often changed, systematically; in a 
word, to embody his Idea Theologies : the name by 
which his work was known to Aubrey, and which 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 347 

would probably have been the title of it, as I have 
said, if himself had published it. 

There is such minute particularity in what Aubrey 
relates both of this and Milton's other manuscripts, 
that in aid of the present question I am induced to 
summon him again before the reader. He tells us, 
that the widow of Milton " k gave all his papers, 
among which was his manuscript dictionary, to his 
nephew," Edward Phillips ; and, in the margin of 
this information, he adds, " In the hands of Moyses 
Pitt" He would doubtless have told us too, (ob- 
serving as he was, and accurate as he is, and indeed 
possessed of the information he gives from the rela- 
tions of the poet,) that into the hands of this person, 
if he had not known that it was in the hands of Mr. 
Skinner, the Idea Theologize had passed. Moses 
Pitt was a bookseller, and a well-known retailer of 
literary curiosities. To him perhaps Edward Phil- 
lips, who was l poor, consigned the papers of his 
uncle which had been given to him. These I con- 
ceive to have been the State-Letters, which were sur- 
reptitiously published in 1676, without the name 
of place, or printer, or bookseller, affixed to them ; 
the names of the two latter also, I must add, being 
withheld from Phillips's translation of these letters, 

k Life of Milton. 
. ' Wood describes him at one time as"a good schoolmaster, 
but as living in poor condition ;" and at another time as " living 
without employment;' 7 and next as " writing and translating 
several things to gain a bare livelihood." 



348 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

and the life of his uncle, nearly twenty years after- 
wards. 

The intimacy of the family of Skinner with Milton 
w r as the cause, no doubt, of Mr. Daniel Skinner 
being examined as to this publication of the State- 
Letters, and of being required to tell what he knew 
upon the subject. His whole attestation, of which a 
part has been already cited, (and is endorsed by Mr. 
Bridgeman, Sir Joseph Williamson's secretary,) here 
deserves therefore great attention. 

" m That Mr. Pitts, bookseller in Paul's Church- 
yard, to the best of my remembrance, about 4 or 
5 months agoe, told me he had mett withall and 
bought some of Mr. Milton's papers, and that if I 
would procure an agreement betwixt him and Else- 
viere at Amsterdam, (to whose care I had long be- 
fore committed the true perfect copy of the State- 
Letters to be printed,) he would communicate them 
to my perusall ; if I would not, he would proceed 
his own way, and make the best advantage of 'em : 
soe that, in all probability, I not procuring Else- 
viere's concurrence with him, and 'tis impossible it 
should be otherwise, Mr. Pitts has been the man, 
by whose means this late imperfect surreptitious 
copy has been publisht. 

" I attest this to be truth. 
" Oct. 18, 1676. (Signed) " Dan. Skinner." 

m From the State-Paper Office. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 349 

Pitt, upon Skinner's declining any concern with 
the letters he had obtained, " proceeded his own 
way ;" and, if the system of divinity had fallen into 
his hands, of that too he would have n endeavoured 
" to make the best advantage" The publication of 
the State-Letters proves the correctness of Skinner's 
attestation. What Pitts had obtained, whether from 
Phillips or others, was not the complete collection 
of these fine examples of diplomatick composition. 
Some of them had perhaps been mislaid, or lost, or 
destroyed, after the transcript of them had been 
made. Of such Phillips knew nothing ; for his Eng- 

n Of an acquisition, bearing the name of Milton, this book- 
seller would eagerly have availed himself. At this very time (in 
1675) he had been publishing a little work, Be Nummis, as the 
production of Selden, which had been printed before Selden was 
born ; whether with a fraudulent intention, or from pure mistake, 
let Dr. Wilkins, the learned editor of Selden's works, be heard. 
" Causam erroris hujus, si fallacia Pittium absolvere vellem, ne 
hariolando quidem assequi possum, nisi quod rara libri copia 
Seldeni manum ad exemplar describendum excitaverit, et cum 
post obitum tractatulus hie, charactere Seldeniano expressus, in 
museo reperiretur, pro genuino Seldeni foetu creditus, licentiaque 
episcopi Londinensis sacellani Smithii stipatus, divulgatus est;' 
Vit. Seld. The preface to this little tract, signed J. H., gives 
the following account. " Cilm, haud ita pridem, in amici cu- 
jusdam bibliotheca excutienda D. Pittius bibliopola esset occu- 
patus ; incidit ex-insperato in hunc libellum CI. Seldeni, non 
antea in lucem editum. Quern postquam avidis paulisper in- 
spexerat oculis, rogavit mutuum, quo typis mandaret; laetusque 
statim accepit. Acceptum Summo Anglias Justitiario D. Mat- 
thaeo Halesio, equiti aurato, testamenti utpote Seldeniani execu- 
tori, ostendit ; et, facta imprimendi copia, opem a me petiit, ut 
airoypcKjjov, male cum esset descriptum, quam emendatissime 
prodiret in publicum," &c. 



350 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

lish version of the surreptitious Latin publication 
announces no addition. But in the copy of the 
State-Letters, made by Skinner, there are several 
yet unknown, as indeed I expected to find, and 
found immediately upon examination, which are of 
great interest. One of these letters, I may here 
observe, is addressed by the Protector " Cunctis 
regibus, rebuspublicis, ac civitatibus nobiscum fce- 
deratis, necnon aliis quibuscunque Protestantium 
religionem prqfitentibus, ad quos ha? nostras literal 
pervenerint, S. D." Here the theologian and the 
secretary are in unison ; for the address, prefixed to 
the system of divinity, is of similar form and import. 

For the slight notice only, which Phillips has 
taken of his uncle's theology, it is not very easy to 
account. Perhaps, when he published the Life of 
Milton, as more than twenty years were passed since 
the death of the poet, he cared little about it, pro- 
bably recollecting also that the compilation had 
been consigned to Skinner. Perhaps indeed he had 
forgotten several circumstances respecting it, as fifty 
years had then elapsed from the time of his first 
engagement in making extracts from Wollebius, 
Ames, and other divines. Thus he has only tanta- 
lized the reader with the expectation of a full ac- 
count of " the tractate of divinity begun in 1640," 
and is silent after he had promised as it were to be 
explicit. 

But in order to shew the possession of this ma- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 351 

nuscript by the family of Skinner only, and thus 
to argue for its authenticity, let us attend to the 
whole of what Daniel Elzevir says to Sir Joseph 
Williamson. 

" ° Monsieur, 

" II y a environ mi an que je suis convenu avec 
Monsieur Skinner les lettres de Milton et un autre 

From the State-Paper Office. The translation of this let- 
ter is here given. " Sir, About a year ago I agreed with Mr. 
Skinner, to print Milton's letters and another treatise on Theo- 
logy ; but having received the manuscripts, and finding them to 
contain many things which I considered more proper to be sup- 
pressed than divulged, I determined not to print either the one 
or the other. I wrote on this subject to Mr. Skinner at Cam- 
bridge ; but as he has not been there lately, my letter did not 
reach him for some time : whereupon he came to this city, and 
was overjoyed to find that I had not begun to print the said 
treatises, and has taken away his manuscripts. 

" He told me you have been informed, Sir, that I was going 
to print the whole of Milton's works together. I protest to you, 
that I never had such a thought ; and I should abhor printing 
the treatises he has written in defence of such a wicked and abo- 
minable cause : besides, it would ill become the son of him who 
first printed Salmasii Defensio Regia, and who would have laid 
down his life to have saved the late King of glorious memory, to 
print a book so detested by all loyal men. I beg to inform you, 
Sir, that Mr. Skinner expressed the greatest pleasure that I had 
not begun the printing of those works ; and told me, that in case 
the said book had been commenced, it was his intention to have 
bought up all the copies, in order to suppress them ; and that 
he had determined to dispose of those manuscripts in such a 
manner, as that they should never again appear. And I may as- 
sure you, Sir, that I will be answerable to you for the decided reso- 
lution I have taken of not making use of them myself, particu- 



352 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

manuscript en Theologie ; mais ayant receu les dits 
manuscripts, et y ayant trouve des choses que je ju- 
geois estre plus propres d'etre supprimez que di- 
vulgez, j'ay pris resolution de n' imprimer n'y Tun 
n'y l'autre. J'avois escrit pour ce sujet a Mons r . 
Skinner a Cambridge : mais comm il rt a pas este 
au dit lieu depuis quelque temps, ma lettre ne lui 
estoit pas parvenue. Sur cela il est arrive en 
cette mile, et a este ravy d entendre que je riavois 
pas commence d'imprimer les dits Traites, et il a 
repris ses manuscripts. 

" II m* a dit que vous avez este informed Monsieur, 

larly since he had the honour of speaking to you, and that you 
informed him you should be displeased if those manuscripts 
should appear : and as he expects his promotion by your means, 
there can be no doubt that he will keep his word. 

" I cannot, Sir, conclude this letter without expressing my ac- 
knowledgements for the kindness you shewed me when I was in 
London, and I should be happy to have an opportunity of serving 
you on any occasion, which would testify with how much re- 
spect, 

" I remain, Sir, your most humble 

" and most obedient servant, 

" Amsterdam, " Daniel Elsevier. 

Nov, 20, 1676. 

" P. S. I forgot to mention, Sir, that neither Mr. Skinner 
nor myself have had any concern in what has been lately pub- 
lished of the said Milton's ; and that I never heard of it, till 
Mr. Skinner mentioned it to me here. He had indeed written 
to me before, that a certain bookseller of London had obtained 
some letters from some person who had purloined them from 
the late Milton; but neither he nor myself have any con- 
nexion with that impression, of which I request you would be 
assured." 



AND WRITINGS OP MILTON. 353 

que je debvois imprimer tous les ouvrages de Milton 
ensemble. Je vous puis protester de n'y avoir ja- 
mais pense, et que j'aurois horreur d'imprimer les 
Traites qu'il a fait pour la defense d'une si meschante 
et abominable cause. Outre qu' il ne seroit pas bien 
seant au flls de celuy qui a imprime Ie premier Sal- 
masij Defensionem Regiam, et qui auroit donne sa 
vie s' il eust pu sauver le feu Roy de glorieuse me- 
moire, d'imprimer un livre si deteste de tous les 
honnestes geans. Je suis oblige de vous dire, 
Monsieur, que le S r . Skinner me tesmoigna une 
tres grande joye de ce que je riavois pas com- 
mence Vimpression des dits outrages, et me dit 
quit estoit d'intention qu'en cas que le dit livre 
eust este commence, d'en acliepter les feulles 
pour les supprimer, qu'il avoit pris une ferme 
resolution d'user en sorte des dits manuscripts 
qu'il [in MS. qu'il] ne paroitroirent jamais ; 
et j'oserois vous en repondre, Monsieur, dans la 
forte resolution que je l'ay ni d'en user ainsy, et 
principalement depuis qu'il a eu l'honneur de 
vous avoir parle, et que luy avez tesmoigne que 
ne seriez pas bien aise que les dits manuscripts 
parussent, et comm'il attend de vous son advance- 
ment, ou ne doibt pas doubter qu' il ne tiene sa 
parole. 

" Monsieur, Je ne puis flnir la presente sans tes- 
moigner ma recognissence pour les bontes qu' avez 
eu pour moy, lorsque j'estois a Londres ; et je vou- 
drois avoir occasion de vous pouvoir estre utile a 



354 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



quelque chose pour peuvoir marker avec combien 
respect je suis, Monsieur, 

" Votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur, 

" Daniel Elsevier. 

" d' Amsterdam, 
le20 me - Novembre 1676. 

" P.S. J'oubliois de vous dire, Monsieur, que le 
S r . Skinner n'y moy n' avois aucune part a ce qui a 
paru depuis peu du dit Milton ; et que je n'en avois 
jamais ouy parler que lorsque Mons r . Skinner le dit 
icy. II m' avoit bien mande par cydevant qu'un 
certain libraire de Londres avoit eu quelques let- 
tres de quelqu' un, qui les avoit derobe aufeu Mil- 
ton ; mais ny luy ny moy n 9 avois eu aucune part a 
cette impression, de quoy je vous prie de voidoir 
estre persuade." 

It is worth observing, that Elzevir in this letter 
has expressed his indignation at the supposition of 
his printing the works of Milton, which had been 
written, he rightly says, in defence of an abominable 
cause ; and yet, at this very time, his catalogue 
of books, which he announced for sale, supports 
that cause in no small degree by p exhibiting 
both the First and Second Defence of the Peo- 
ple of England in his shop at a purchaser's ser- 
vice ! 

p Catalog. Libb. qui in Bibliopolio Danielis Elsevirii venales 
extant. Amst. 1674. Libb. Miscell. p. 121. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 355 

But this letter from Elzevir to Sir Joseph Wil- 
liamson shews that both Skinner and himself were 
disgusted at the conduct of the bookseller, who had 
caused the imperfect copy of the State-Letters to be 
printed; who, as Skinner q supposes, was Moses 
Pitt, and against whom the charge is that he had 
obtained the letters from some person, who had pur- 
loined them from Milton. This probably was said in 
the spirit of hasty resentment, on account of the sur- 
reptitious publication ; without considering that, per- 
haps by purchase from Phillips, the letters might have 
become the property of this bookseller ; to whom, 
however, we can trace no connection whatever with 
the manuscript treatise of theology. Indeed the 
dates of Elzevir's letter and of Skinner's attestation 
plainly shew, that with the genuine letters this trea- 
tise also had been sent by Skinner to Elzevir some 
months before Pitt had applied to him upon the 
subject of those in his possession ; to whose request, 
Skinner tells us, he could pay no attention ; evi- 
dently, because he had already sent to the foreign 
press what he could affirm to be correct ; and be- 
cause the letters mentioned to him by Pitt he be- 
lieved to have been stolen, and he knew to be 
imperfect. Pitt perhaps was aware of the intimacy 
of the family of Skinner with Milton, and therefore 
made this application. 

Let us now revert a moment to the intimation 

* See before, p. 347. 
a a 2 



356 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

given to Skinner from his college, that they ex- 
pected he would not " r publish any writing mis- 
chievous to the Church or State." If in this com- 
munication Dr. Barrow had alluded to the manu- 
script of the State-Letters alone, it would have been 
sufficient to have expressed the expectation that 
Skinner would publish nothing mischievous to the 
State, omitting all mention of the Church. If, on 
the other hand, it were currently reported and be- 
lieved that Skinner was in the possession of a theolo- 
gical treatise also by Milton, differing in many re- 
spects from the received opinions, the admonition 
from his college not to injure " Church or State" 
by publication is pertinent and just. And it is to 
this treatise, not to the State-Letters, that the con- 
versation of Skinner with Mr. Perwich refers. It is 
reasonable too to suppose, that Skinner might think 
it necessary then to give some pledge respecting a 
manuscript, of the precise nature and contents of 
which little could then be known, except that it had 
been composed by Milton and was in the possession 
of Skinner ; and perhaps to Sir Joseph Williamson 
he gave this satisfaction in his s conversation with 
him. This I conclude to have been the theological 
treatise in question ; a portion of it, as I have 
already said, being transcribed in the same hand- 
writing as the " true perfect copy of the State-Let- 



r See before, p. 297. 

* See the notice of Skinner's introduction to Sir Joseph Wil- 
liamson in Elzevir's letter. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



357 



ters ;" which is proved to have been that of Daniel 
Skinner by the attestation signed by his own hand- 
writing in the State-Paper Office. And in the sub- 
sequent and far greater part of the manuscript, it 
must not be forgotten, the hand of one of Milton's 
female amanuenses, always believed to be that of his 
daughter Deborah, is so obvious, in copying sen- 
tences, as to have recently occasioned the willing 
admission of many, Mr. Lemon has informed me, 
who have compared the Sonnet of Milton, before 
mentioned, which is in Trinity College, Cambridge, 
with this theological treatise, that the writer of these 
sentences is certainly one and the same person. 
With the recollection of this hand-writing, when I 
was first favoured with a sight of the treatise, I could 
not but consider the appearance of it as an attesta- 
tion to the authenticity of the theological system. 

If still it should be urged that this treatise may be 
a fabrication, to which the name of Milton is unjustly 
applied ; we may ask, to what purpose could the fa- 
brication be designed ? Could it be for gain ? That 
is an improbable supposition, when we recollect that, 
not long before, the manuscript of Paradise Lost 
could obtain at first no more than five pounds from 
the purchaser. Or was this " wild young man" 
bribed to affix, for the purpose of patronizing heresy, 
the name of Milton to a compilation not his own ? 
Would he have then suffered the other hand- 
writings in the greater part of the manuscript 
to remain ? Would his attempt to deceive have es~ 



358 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

caped the knowledge of Milton's relations, of whom, 
no doubt, inquiry was made by the agents of go- 
vernment after such papers as Milton had left, and 
from whom it is reasonable to suppose that the in- 
formation was received, (which has descended to us 
by means of Aubrey and Wood,) that in the hands 
of Mr. Skinner the Idea Theologies was to be 
found ? Or was the genuine manuscript of Milton 
lost ? If that had been its fate, Phillips would pro- 
bably have told us so ; for he names, we have seen, 
a tractate of divinity begun from Wollebius 
and t Ames fyc, as a subject of future discussion, 
which, we know not why, he chose to forget. The 
real manuscript had been first, we must suppose, 
with Cyriack Skinner ; then with Daniel ; by w r hom, 
or by whose order, lastly, it was directed back to 
Mr, Skinner, merchant, when danger seemed to 
threaten a publication of it, though perhaps not 
transmitted by Elzevir according to the direction, 
but brought home, as I have before supposed, by 
Daniel himself, and surrendered as the price of his 
restoration to favour which had been lost. The 
examination of Skinner by Sir Joseph Williamson 
himself, and probably by others, would indeed have 



1 It should have been before observed, that in the treatise 
Ames is called, " Amesius noster" p. 447. Lat. edit. I must 
also here observe that the thirty-first chapter of the first book of 
the present treatise opens with a declaration, and definition, of 
Particular Churches, exactly in accordance with Ames's English 
Puritanism, or the opinions of the Puritans, published in 1641, 
p. 3, &c. Concerning the Church. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 359 

detected the forgery, if a forgery the treatise be ; 
and Skinner instead of being admitted to the ho- 
nours of his college, and of being led to expect pro- 
motion from the secretary of state, would have 
been overwhelmed with confusion, disappointment, 
and contempt. Sir Joseph Williamson, too, we 
have seen, expressed to Skinner that he should be 
displeased if the manuscript was published ; evi- 
dently because he was told, and because he believed, 
that Milton had compiled it. 

There are certainly some expressions in the trea- 
tise, which may have maintained their position from 
heedless copying, or from dictation misunderstood. 
In the first part of the manuscript, which has been 
transcribed by Skinner, " u the mistakes, especially 
in the references to the quotations, are in the pro- 
portion of fourteen to one, as compared with those in 
the remaining three-fifths of the work." 

Of this part we know not what alterations, what 
pasted slips of amendments, or what other marginal 
corrections, and in different hand-writings, might 
(as in the remaining larger part x such still exist) 
have been y directed. It is a transcript hastily and 



w Dr. Sumner's Introduct. p. xv. 

x A very curious description of Milton's care in these respects 
is given by Dr. Sumner, Lat. edit. p. 314. n. 7. 

y Milton appears to have been mortified, in his declining years, 
at the mistakes of those who copied from his dictation. He tells 
Peter Heimbach in a letter dat, Aug. 15, 1666. " Hoc abs te 



360 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

incorrectly made. Perhaps by one of these mistakes 
the words Ecclesiam Domini, ut nostra recens, in 
the fifth chapter of the first book, have remained ; 
as no English version of Acts xx. 28. (the passage 
in question) is found to exhibit the Church of the 
Lord, although the various readings given in bishop 
Wilson's Bible mention one with that reading, which 
has in vain been sought by Dr. Sumner, myself, and 
others. Jeremiah Felbinger, an unitarian divine of 
Germany, is known to have rendered, in his German 
translation of the New Testament in 1660, the pas- 
sage in the same form, viz. the Church of the Lord; 
and hence the treatise, it has been thought, might 
be traced to him : as though Skinner, and the other 
writers of the manuscript, had all concurred in 
substituting for Milton this person. The reading in 
the manuscript, which is Ecclesiam Domini, is cited 
as the Latin rendering of the Syriack Version of the 
New Testament, and is given by Walton in his Poly- 
glott Bible, published in 1657 ; and to this publica- 
tion ut recens nostra might refer, if the passage be 
not an extract from some writing by the German 
divine referring to his translation, which has here 
remained unaltered ; as there is also a subsequent 
reference, but without laying absolute stress upon 
the passage, to Rom. ix 5. grossly corrupted by the 

impetravero, ut, si quid mendose descriptum aut non interpunctum 
reperires, id puero, qui hcec excepit, Latint prorsus nescienti r 
velis imputare, cui singulas plane literulas annumerare non sine 
fniseria dictans cogebar." There is, in the present treatise, mis- 
taken reference also to subjects of discussion. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 361 

pointing of this translator. Milton in his printed 
works has both the Church of God, and the Church 
of Christ, the latter of which also, as well as the 
Church of the Lord, is here the reading of some 
manuscripts. But if we are to trace to others from 
certain passages, from whole sentences indeed, and 
from particular sentiments as well as expressions, 
professedly compiled, an authorship of the whole; 
then we must be compelled to say that Ames and 
Wollebius, not to mention others, (and from Wolle- 
bius and Ames, his nephew has expressly told us, 
Milton ordered extracts to be made, when he first 
thought of a tractate of divinity,) present a similar, 
indeed a z stronger, claim to notice as the writers of 
the present treatise. 

It has been also observed, that Selden is named 
in this treatise without some distinctive addition 
of respect. It is thus, that Milton speaks of him, 
in some of his a latest works, simply as " our 
Selden." Nor has it been overlooked, that the 
innumerable citations from Scripture in the trea- 

z See the obligations to both in the manuscript already stated, 
p. 312. With Wollebius he agrees oftener than with Ames. 
But see also before, p. 358. With Felbinger there is a very re- 
markable difference in the present manuscript : for he wrote, in 
his Demons trationes Christiana, " quod gratia divina per fidem 
justificati teneantur vitam suam instituere secundum decern prce- 
cepta Dei et mandata Christi, &c. ex libris N. T. deprompt." 
This is not Milton's doctrine in the present treatise. 

a More than once in his Consid. to remove Hirelings out of the 
Church, p. 17. 



362 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

tise could hardly have been remembered or dic- 
tated by Milton. But this, and I must repeat too 
that many of them are citations by other writers, 
was also his method: His two short treatises, Of 
Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes, and The 
Means to remove Hirelings out of the Churchy 
both formed in 1659, long after he was blind, 
thus contain nearly two hundred cited texts from 
the Old and New Testament. But in a word, 
to copy the remarks of an acute investigator of the 
treatise, " b the mind of Milton is stamped on every 
page. Not only are the known opinions of this re- 
markable man maintained with the usual seriousness 
of his character, but the manner in which he arrives 
at certain newer tenets, adopted by him at a later 
period of life, bears the same unquestionable impress 
of his peculiar way of thinking. In the tone all is 
grave, earnest, and solemn ; in the matter there 
appears not merely a disdain of human authority, but 
a jealousy of all received doctrines ; and finally, to 
whatever conclusions his arguments may lead, Mil- 
ton fearlessly pursues and implicitly adopts them. 
Indeed the more extravagant tenets developed in the 
work are but the necessary consequences which re- 
sult from his principles, and at once illustrate most 
clearly and refute most conclusively the reasonings 
from which they are deduced. It is not an uncom- 
mon case, especially in theology, for those who 
advance erroneous opinions, when pushed with dan- 

b Quarterly Review, Oct. 1825, p. 442, 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 363 

gerous consequences as their necessary result, to dis- 
claim the inferences which themselves have not 
drawn. But Milton was too severe a reasoner, and 
too honest a man, to disavow or shrink from the 
avowal of all legitimate inferences from his own opi- 
nions. He was therefore neither appalled nor shaken 
by the view of his system as a whole ; which, how- 
ever it admits the expediency, and even the duty, of 
uniting in a particular church, would inevitably pro- 
duce in its result the isolation of every individual, 
and the dissolution of every religious community." 

Nor may the following criticism, in another coun- 
try, which notices the religious opinions of Milton, 
and refers to his various changes of them, be over- 
passed. " c Una critica delle opinioni politiche e 
religiose di Milton si pud avere neh" opera Ritratti 
Poetici, Storici, e Critici di varii moderni uomini 
di lettere di Appio Anneo da Faba croma%iano. 
Ven. 1796, torn. ii. p. 78 ; dove si pud conoscere 
quanto sia vero che Milton in giovinezza Puritano, 
in eta matura Anabatista e Indipendente, in vecchi- 
ezza di nessuna setta, cangio religion cangiando 
pelo, com' ivi e scritto. Sembra che 1' odio di lui 
verso il Clero non fosse che una consequenza di 
quell' amore di liberta, che lo dominava, e cui oppo- 
neva un grande ostaculo la somma influenza dell' 
ordine religioso sulle cose delP Inghilterra al tempo 
di quelle fiere sommosse : crederei quindi che piu 

c Saggio di Critica, &c. ut supr. p. 156. 



364 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

odiasse l'abuso di quello che la cosa in se stessa. 
Un uomo del suo ingegno non poteva non conoscere 
quanto in massima la forza morale della religione sia 
necessaria a consolidare la felicita di uno Stato. 
E* anche da notare che a quei tempi erano molto 
in voga le questioni teologiche, delle quali niente 
v' ha di piu pericoloso a far cadere in incertezze ed 
errori." 



SECTION IX. 



Recapitulation and Conclusion. 

In the first Section I have omitted the circum- 
stances, which were related in my former account of 
the life and writings of Milton from the communi- 
cation of Mr. Richards, of Milton's father-in-law 
being of Sandford in the vicinity of Oxford, of Mil- 
ton himself residing at Forest-hill and there writing 
a great part of his Paradise Lost, and of Mr. War- 
ton's finding there many papers of Milton's own 
writing. For Mr. Warton himself a notices only 
some papers of Mr. Powell, which he there saw ; no 
other b document has been found to shew Mr. 
Powell's residence or connection with Sandford ; and 
the improbability of Milton's writing at Forest-hill 
any part of his immortal poem, I have c stated. 

In the second Section I have only to observe, 
that what Dr. Newton and other biographers of 

a See the present account, &c. p. 269, note k . 

b See the details of his property, &c. pp. 69, 70, &c. 

c See before, p. 29. 



366 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Milton have stated, as to the correspondence of the 
Council of State with other governments, is not 
quite correct. Dr. Newton says, " Milton served 
as Latin secretary for foreign affairs under Oliver, 
and Richard, and the Rump, till the Restoration ; 
and without doubt a better Latin pen could not 
have been found in the kingdom. For the repub- 
lick and Cromwell scorned to pay that tribute to 
any foreign prince, which is usually paid to the 
French king, of managing their affairs in his lan- 
guage : they thought it an indignity and meanness, 
to which this or any free nation ought not to sub- 
mit ; and took a noble resolution neither to write 
any letters to any foreign states, nor to receive any 
answers from them, but in the Latin tongue, which 
was common to them all." Now, in the d preceding 
Orders of Council, it will be seen that they did re- 
ceive answers from other states in their respective 
languages, which Milton was directed to translate. 

To the third Section a curious addition is now 
given, which I remember not to have met with in 
any remarks of the biographers on the classical taste 
of Milton. It is, that " e he often read Plautus, 
in order the better to rail at Salmasius." In the 
same section, the f letter of Milton, which was given 
while the sheet was printing, in behalf of Marvel, 

d See before, pp. 141, 146. 

e Toland's Vindicius Liberius, or Defence of himself, &c. 
1702, p." 8. 
f See before, p. 162. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 367 

confirms what in my former account of the poet I 
had said without alteration, that he was not totally 
blind before 1653, but to which I have added in the 
present, from Du Moulin's inhuman taunt, a g belief 
that in 1652, in which year Du Moulin published 
the book that contained it, the sight of both eyes 
was gone. This letter, however, dated Feb. 21, 
1652, that is, 1652-3, is written steadily with his 
own hand throughout, and clearly proves that he 
had still the use of one eye, which could direct his 
hand to express elegantly the friendly feelings of 
his heart. It may here be mentioned that Marvel 
was in 1653 h appointed by Cromwell tutor to Mr. 
Dutton; possibly through the interest of Milton. 
Marvel thus acknowledges the former kindness, in a 
letter to Milton, dated at Eton, June 2, 1654. 
" ■ He CBradshawe] might suspect that I delivering 
it [a letter] just upon my departure, it might have 
brought in it some second proposition, like to that 
which you have before made to him by your letter 
to my advantage? 

To the fourth and fifth Sections I offer no 
addition. 

In the sixth Section what the wife of Milton told 
the early admirers of his poetry, must be inserted ; 



* See before, p. 147. 

h Milton's State-Letters, &c. p. 98. 

* Biograph. Brit. Art. Marvel. 



368 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

namely, that he used to compose his poetry chiefly 
in winter, and on his waking in a morning dictated 
to her sometimes twenty or thirty verses ; that 
Spenser, Shakspeare, and Cowley, were his favourite 
English poets ; and that he pronounced Dryden to 
be a rhymist rather than a poet. Dryden's best 
poems, however, had not then appeared. To Dry- 
den, who often visited him, it must be added, Mil- 
ton acknowledged that Spenser was his original. 
Nor must Phillips's relation here be overpassed : 
" k There is a remarkable passage in the composure 
of Paradise Lost, which I have a particular occasion 
to remember ; for, whereas I had the perusal of it 
from the very beginning, for some years as I went 
from time to time to visit him, in a parcel of ten, 
twenty, or thirty verses at a time, which, being writ- 
ten by whatever hand came next, might possibly 
want correction as to the orthography and pointing ; 
having, as the summer came on, not been shewn any 
for a considerable while, and desiring to know the 
reason thereof, was answered, that his vein never 
happily flowed but from the autumnal equinox to 
the vernal, and that whatever he attempted was 
never to his satisfaction, though he courted his 
fancy never so much ; so that in all the years he 
was about this poem, he may be said to have spent 
but half his time therein." Dr. Johnson ridicules 
the notion that a writer should suppose himself in- 
fluenced by times or seasons ; but while he has thus 

k Life of Milton, p. xxxvi. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



369 



hastily decided on the intellectual impulses of Mil- 
ton, he has also ! contradicted himself. 

Lastly, it may be remarked that Milton's favourite 
doctrine of the superiority of man to woman, which 
indeed he strenuously asserts in his theological trea- 
tise as well as in his poetry, and in other parts of 
his works, contributed perhaps to the circumstance 
of his first wife's temporary abandonment of him, 
and to the desire of his daughters, in his later days, 
to quit the attention which they had been used to 
pay him. But his last wife m appears to have treated 
him with all the kindness which his blindness and 
infirmities required. Yet his favourite doctrine had 
not been acted upon without publick notice : for 
thus an antagonist addresses him. " n The wife is 
subject to her husband, one to one ; yet no vassal, 
unless Mr. Milton's doctrine of divorce may be ad- 
mitted, that he may turn her off as soon, or as oft, 
as his wayward spirit can find no delight in her. 
The children are subject to their parents, yet no 
slaves." 

To the concluding note of Mr. Warton in the 
seventh Section, in which Caleb Clarke the grand- 

1 " He [Johnson] here admits an opinion of the human mind 
being influenced by seasons, which he ridicules in his writings." 
Boswell's Life of Johnson, 3d. edit. vol. ii. p. 264. 

m See what is before said of this wife, and of his daughters. 

n The Duty of Kingship, in answer to Mr, Milton, &c. By 
G. S. 1660, p. 71. 

Bb 



370 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c 

son of Milton (who migrated to the East Indies) is 
mentioned, I am enabled to add from the kind com- 
munication of Sir James Mackintosh, that he was 
Parish-Clerk of Madras. His children were the last 
descendants of the poet ; but of them nothing fur- 
ther is known. 

In the eighth Section I have so fully considered 
the Theological Treatise of Milton, as to render un- 
necessary any other observation than that the spirit, 
in which it has been framed, presents him to our 
view, and to our respect, " ° becoming gradually 
more tolerant of the supposed errors of others, as 
the period drew near when he must answer for his 
own before an unerring tribunal." 

Dr. Sumner's Introduct. p. xxvi. 



APPENDIX 



CONTAINING 



AN INQUIRY 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 



Bb2 



APPENDIX. 



An Inquiry into the Origin of Paradise Lost. 

The earliest observation respecting the a Origin of 
Paradise Lost appears to have been made by Vol- 
taire, in the year 1727. He was then studying in 



a " The petty circumstances, by which great minds are led to 
the first conception of great designs, are so various and volatile, 
that nothing can be more difficult to discover : Fancy in parti- 
cular is of a nature so airy, that the traces of her step are hardly 
to be discerned ; ideas are so fugitive, that if poets, in their life 
time, were questioned concerning the manner in which the seeds 
of considerable productions first arose in their mind, they might 
not always be able to answer the inquiry ; can it then be possible 
to succeed in such an inquiry concerning a mighty genius, who 
has been consigned more than a century to the tomb, especially 
when, in the records of his life, we can find no positive evidence 
on the point in question ? However trifling the chances it may 
afford of success, the investigation is assuredly worthy our pur- 
suit ; for, as an accomplished critick has said, in speaking of ano- 
ther poet, with his usual felicity of discernment and expression, 
the inquiry cannot be void of entertainment whilst Milton is 
our constant theme : whatever may be the fortune of the chace, 
we are sure it will lead us through pleasant prospects and a fine 
country." See Hayley's Conjectures on the Origin of Paradise 
Lost. 



IV AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

England ; and had become so well acquainted with 
our language as to publish an English essay on epick 
poetry ; in which are the following words : 

" Milton, as he was travelling through Italy in 
his youth, saw at Florence a comedy called Adamo, 
written by one Andreini, a player, and dedicated to 
Mary de Medicis, queen of France. The subject of 
the play was the Fall of Man ; the actors, God, the 
Devils, the Angels, Adam, Eve, the Serpent, Death, 
and the seven mortal Sins : That topick, so impro- 
per for a drama, but so suitable to the absurd ge- 
nius of the Italian stage (as it was at that time,) 
was handled in a manner entirely conformable to 
the extravagance of the design. The scene opens 
with a Chorus of Angels ; and a Cherubim thus 
speaks for the rest : b Let the rainbow be the fid- 
dlestick of the heavens! let the planets be the 
notes of our musich ! let time beat carefully the 
measure, and the winds make the sharps, &c. 
Thus the play begins, and every scene rises above 
the last in profusion of impertinence ! 

b " A la lira del Ciel Iri sia l'arco, 
" Corde le sfere sien, note le stelle, 
" Sien le pause e i sospir l'aure novelle, 
" E '1 tempo i tempi a misurar non parco !*' 

Choro d' Angeli, &c. Adamo, ed. 1617. 
The better judgement of the author, Mr. Walker observes, 
determined him to omit this chorus in a subsequent edition of 
his drama : accordingly it does not appear in that of Perugia, 
1641. See the Historical Memoir on Italian Tragedy, 1799, 
p. 169. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. V 

" Milton pierced through the absurdity of that 
performance to the hidden majesty of the subject, 
which, being altogether unfit for the stage, yet might 
be (for the genius of Milton, and his only,) the foun- 
dation of an epick poem. 

" He took from that ridiculous trifle the first hint 
of the noblest work, which human imagination has 
ever attempted, and which he executed more than 
twenty years after." 

That Milton had certainly read the sacred drama 
of Andreini, is the opinion both of Dr. Joseph War- 
ton and of Mr. Hayley. Another elegant critick 
has observed, that Voltaire may have related a tra- 
dition perhaps current in England at the time it was 
visited by him ; " c a period at which, it may be 
presumed, some of the contemporaries of Milton 
were living, for he was then only about fifty years 
dead. Milton, with the candour which is usually 
united with true genius, probably acknowledged to 
his friends his obligations to the Italian dramatist, 
and the floating tradition met the ardent inquiries 
of the French poet." It may be worth mentioning 
here, that Dante, according to the account of some 
Italian criticks d , took the hint of his Inferno from 
a nocturnal representation of Hell, exhibited in 1304 
on the river Arno at Florence ; and that Tasso is 



e Hist. Mem. on Jtal. Tragedy, p. 170, 

4 Warton's Hist, of Eng. Poetry, vol. iii. p. 241. 



vi AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

said to have e conceived the idea of writing his 
Aminta at the representation, in 1567, of Lo Sfor- 
tunato of Agostino Argenti in Ferrara. 

From the Aclamo of Andreini a poetical extract, 
as well as the summary of the arguments of each 
act and scene, were given by Dr. Warton, in an ap- 
pendix to the second volume of his Essay on the 
Genius and Writings of Pope, 1782. Mr. Hay- 
ley has cited other specimens of the poetry in r this 
" spirited, though irregular and fantastick, compo- 
sition ;" from which Milton's fancy is supposed to have 
caught fire. A few quotations also, from this rare 
and curious drama, have been long since given in 
Notes on the Paradise Lost. But, if the Adamo 
be examined with the utmost nicety, Milton will be 
found no servile copyist : He will be found, as in 
numberless instances of his extensive, his curious, 
and careful reading, to have improved the slightest 
hints into the finest descriptions. Milton indeed, 
with the skill and grace of an Apelles or a Phidias, 
has often animated the rude sketch and the shape- 
less block. f I mean not to detract from the Italian 



e Hist. Mem. ut supr. 



f From the remarks of Prince Giacomo Giustiniani, (the ac- 
complished governour of Perugia,) on the Adamo, which were 
transmitted to Mr. Walker, and by Mr. Walker obligingly com- 
municated to me, it appears that the criticks of Italy consider 
Milton not a little indebted to their countryman. I will cite the 
opinion of the liberal and elegant Tiraboschi : " Certo benche 
V Adamo dell' Andreini sia in confronto del Paradiso Pcrduto 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. Vll 

drama ; but let it be here remarked once for all, in 
Milton's own words, that " s borroiving, if it be not 
bettered by the borrower, among good authors is 
accounted plagiaries Let the bitterest enemies 
of Milton prove, if they can, whether the author of 
this ingenuous remark may be exhibited in such a 
light; rather let them acknowledge that, in fully 
comparing him with those authors who have written 
on similar subjects, he must ever be considered as 

" above the rest 



" In shape and gesture proudly eminent." 

The drama of Andreini was so little known when 
Dr. Birch was writing the Life of Milton, that War- 
burton, in a letter to that learned biographer, pre- 
served in the British Museum, ridicules the relation 
of Voltaire. " It is said that it appeared by a MS. 
in Trin. Coll. Camb. that Milton intended an opera 
of the Paradise Lost. Voltaire, on the credit of 

cio che e il Poema di Ennio in confronto a quel di Virgilio, non- 
dimeno non puo negarsi che le idee gigantesche, delle quali V au- 
tore Inglese ha abbellito il suo Poema, di Satana, che entra nel 
Paradiso terrestre, e arde d' invidia al vedere la felicita dell' Uomo, 
del congresso de Demonj, della battaglia degli Angioli contra 
Lucifero, e piu altre sommiglianti immagini veggonsi nell' Adamo 
adombrate per modo, che a me sembra molto credibile, che anche 
il Milton dalle immondezze, se cosi e lecito dire, dell' Andreini 
raccogliesse l'oro, di cui adorno il suo Poema. Per altro L 'Adamo 
dell' Andreini, benche abbia alcuni tratti di pessimo gusto, ne 
ha altri ancora, che si posson proporre come modello di excellente 
poesia." 

g Iconoclastes, Prose- Works, edit. 1698, fol. vol. ii. p. 509. 



Vlll AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

this circumstance, amongst a heap of impertinency, 
pretends boldly that he took the hint from a comedy 
he saw at Florence, called Adamo, Others ima- 
gined too he conceived the idea in Italy; now I will 
give you good proof that all this is a vision. In one 
of his political pamphlets, written early by him, I 
forget which, he tells the world he had conceived a 
notion of an epick poem on the story of Adam or 
Arthur. What then will you say must we do with 
this circumstance of the Trin. Coll. MS ? I believe I 
can explain that matter. When the parliament got 
uppermost, they suppressed the playhouses ; on which 
Sir John Denham, I think, and others, contrived to 
get operas performed. This took with the people, 
and was much in their taste ; and religious ones 
being the favourites of that sanctified people, was, I 
believe, what inclined Milton at that time (and nei- 
ther before nor after) to make an opera of it."- — 
Even at a much later period, the very existence of 
the Adamo was denied ; for Mr. Mickle, an ardent 
admirer of Milton, and the very able translator of 
The Lusiad, calls it " h a Comedy which nobody 
ever saw ;" and observes, " that even some Italian 
literati declared that no such author [as Andreini]] 
was known in Italy." Dr. Johnson also, in his Life 
of Milton, calls Voltaire's relation " a wild, unau- 
thorised, story." 

That Milton had conceived, in his younger days, 

h Dissertation prefixed to the Translation of the Lusiad, 2d 
edit. Ox. p. ccii. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. IX 

as Dr. Warburton has observed, the notion of an 
epick poem on the story of Arthur, is evident from 
his own words in the Mansus, v. 80, &c. and the 
Epitaphium Damonis, v. 155, &c. But Mr. Hay- 
ley, with great acuteness and elegance of lan- 
guage, remarks, that " it seems very probable that 
Milton, in his collection of Italian books, had brought 
the Adamo of Andreini to England ; and that the 
perusal of an author, wild indeed, and abounding in 
grotesque extravagance, yet now and then shining 
with pure and united rays of fancy and devotion, 
first gave a new bias to the imagination of the 
English poet; or, to use the expressive phrase of 
Voltaire, first revealed to him the hidden majesty 
of the subject. The apostate angels of Andreini, 
though sometimes hideously and absurdly disgusting, 
yet occasionally sparkle with such fire as might 
awaken the emulation of Milton." The English 
reader is indebted to Mr. Hayley for the following 
analysis of the arguments of each act and scene in 
the Adamo. 

-The CHARACTERS. 

" God the Father. 

" Chorus of Seraphim, Cherubim, and Angels. 

" The Archangel Michael. 

" Adam. 

" Eve. 

" A Cherub, the guardian of Adam. 

" Lucifer. 

" Satan. 

" Beelzebub. 



X AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

" The seven mortal Sins. 
" The World. 
" The Flesh. 
" Famine. 
"Labour. 
'* Dkspair. 
" Death. 
" Vain Glory. 
" Serpent. 

" Volano, an infernal messenger. 
" Chorus of Phantoms. 

•' Chorus of fiery, airy, aquatick, and infernal 
" Spirits." 

ACT I. Scene. 1. rt Chorus of Angels, singing the 
glory of God. — After their hymn, which serves as a pro- 
logue, God the Father, Angels, Adam and Eve. — God calls 
to Lucifer, and bids him survey with confusion the wonders 
of his power. — He creates Adam and Eve — their delight and 
gratitude. 

Scene 2. " Lucifer, arising from Hell — he expresses his 
enmity against God, the good Angels, and Man. 

Scene 3. " Lucifer, Satan, and Beelzebub. — Lucifer ex- 
cites his associates to the destruction of Man, and calls other 
Demons from the abyss to conspire for that purpose. 

Scene 4, 5, and 6. " Lucifer, summoning seven distinct 
Spirits, commissions them to act under the character of the 
seven mortal Sins, with the following names : 

" Melecano Pride. 

" Lurcone Envy. 

" Ruspicano Anger. 

" Arfarat Avarice. 

" Maltea Sloth. 

". Dulciato Luxury. 

" Guliar Gluttony. 

ACT II. Scene 1. " The Angels, to the number of 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XI 

fifteen, separately sing the grandeur of God, and his muni- 
ficence to Man. 

Scene 2. " Adam and Eve, with Lurcone and Guliar 
watching unseen. — Adam and Eve express their devotion to 
God so fervently, that the evil Spirits, though invisible, are 
put to flight by their prayer. 

Scene 3. " The Serpent, Satan, Spirits. — The Serpent, 
or Lucifer, announces his design of circumventing Woman. 

Scene 4. " The Serpent, Spirits, and Volano. — Volano 
arrives from Hell, and declares that the confederate Powers 
of the abyss designed to send a goddess from the deep, en- 
titled Vain Glory, to vanquish Man. 

Scene 5. " Vain Glory, drawn by a Giant, Volano, the 
Serpent, Satan, and Spirits. — The Serpent welcomes Vain 
Glory as his confederate, then hides himself in the tree to 
watch and tempt Eve. 

Scene 6. '* The Serpent and Vain Glory at first con- 
cealed ; the Serpent discovers himself to Eve, tempts and 
seduces her. — Vain Glory closes the Act with expressions of 
triumph. 

ACT III. Scene 1. "Adam and Eve.— After a dia- 
logue of tenderness she produces the fruit. — Adam expresses 
horrour, but at last yields to her temptation. — When both 
have tasted the fruit, they are overwhelmed with remorse 
and terrour ; they fly to conceal themselves. 

Scene 2. " Volano proclaims the Fall of Man, and in- 
vites the Powers of darkness to rejoice, and pay their hom- 
age to the Prince of Hell. 

Scene 3. " Volano, Satan, chorus of Spirits, with en- 
signs of victory. — Expression of their joy. 

Scene 4. " Serpent, Vain Glory, Satan, and Spirits. — 
The Serpent commands Canoro, a musical Spirit, to sing his 
triumph, which is celebrated with songs and dances in the 
4th and 5th scenes ; the latter closes with expressions of 
horrour from the triumphant Demons, on the approach of 
God. 

Scene 6. " God the Father, Angels, Adam and Eve. — 



XU AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

God summons and rebukes the sinners, then leaves them, 
after pronouncing his malediction. 

Scene 7. " An Angel, Adam and Eve.— The Angel 
gives them rough skins for clothing, and exhorts them to 
penitence. 

Scene 8. " The Archangel Michael, Adam and Eve. — 
Michael drives them from Paradise with a scourge of fire. 
Angels close the Act with a chorus, exciting the offenders to 
hope in repentance. 

ACT IV. Scene 1. " Volano, chorus of fiery, airy, 
earthly, and aquatick Spirits. — They express their obedience 
to Lucifer. 

Scene 2. '* Lucifer rises, and utters his abhorrence of the 
light ; the Demons console him — He questions them on the 
meaning of God's words and conduct towards Man — He 
spurns their conjectures and announces the incarnation, then 
proceeds to new machinations against Man. 

Scene 3. " Infernal Cyclops, summoned by Lucifer, 
make a new world at his command. — He then commissions 
three Demons against Man, under the characters of the 
World, the Flesh, and Death. 

Scene 4. " Adam alone. — He laments his fate, and at 
last feels his sufferings aggravated, in beholding Eve flying 
in terrour from the hostile animals. 

Scene 5. " Adam and Eve. — She excites her compa- 
nion to suicide. 

Scene 6. " Famine, Thirst, Lassitude, Despair, Adam 
and Eve. — Famine explains her own nature, and that of her 
associates. 

Scene 7. " Death, Adam and Eve. — Death reproaches 
Eve with the horrours she has occasioned — Adam closes the 
Act by exhorting Eve to take refuge in the mountains. 

ACT V. Scene 1. " The Flesh, in the shape of a 
woman ; and Adam. — He resists her temptation. 

Scene 2. " Lucifer, the Flesh, and Adam. — Lucifer pre- 
tends to be a man, and the elder brother of Adam. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. Xiu 

Scene3. "A Cherub, Adam, the Flesh, and Lucifer. — 
The Cherub secretly warns Adam against his foes ; and at 
last defends him with manifest power. 

Scene 4. " The World, in the shape of a man, exulting 
in his own finery. 

Scene 5. " Eve and the World. — He calls forth a rich 
palace from the ground, and tempts Eve with splendour. 

Scene 6. " Chorus of Nymphs, Eve, the World, and 
Adam. — He exhorts Eve to resist these allurements — the 
World calls the Demons from Hell to enchain his victims — 
Eve prays for mercy : Adam encourages her. 

Scene 7. " Lucifer, Death, chorus of Demons. — They 
prepare to seize Adam and Eve. 

Scene 8. " The Archangel Michael, with a chorus of 
good Angels. — After a spirited altercation, Michael subdues 
and triumphs over Lucifer. 

Scene 9. " Adam, Eve, chorus of Angels. — They re- 
joice in the victory of Michael : he animates the offenders 
with a promise of favour from God, and future residence in 
Heaven: — they express their hope and gratitude. — The 
Angels close the drama, by singing the praise of the Re- 
deemer." 

When the reader considers the allegorical cha- 
racters in this drama, and those in Milton's sketches 
on similar subjects intended once for tragedies, he 
will find further reason to admit that the Adamo 
had made considerable impression, either in repre- 
sentation or by perusal, on the mind of the English 
poet. 

Of Andreini, who has been contemptuously called 
a stroller, Mr. Hayley has vindicated the fame. 
" He had some tincture of classical learning, and 
considerable piety. He occasionally imitates Virgil, 



X1 V AN rNQUIRY INTO THE 

and quotes the Fathers." In one of the passages, 
cited from his Adamo by Mr. Hayley, Mr. Walker 
observes that ' the course of a river is described 
with a richness of fancy, and a " dance of words/' 
that prove Andreini to have been endowed with 
no common poetick powers. Of the Adamo there 
have been four editions, those of Milan in 1613, 
and 1617, printed in quarto ; that of Perugia in 
1641, printed in duodecimo ; and that of Modena 
in 1685, printed in the same form. The edition 
of 1641 is considered the most rare. The descrip- 
tion, to which Mr. Walker alludes, is beautifully 
amplified in that edition ; and has been given in 
the Appendix to the Historical Memoir on Italian 
Tragedy, 1799, p. xliv. Andreini was the son of 
the celebrated actress, Isabella Andreini. k His va- 
rious productions, says Mr. Hayley, " amount to 
the number of thirty ; and form a singular medley 
of comedies and devout poems." The writer of the 
article Andreini (Isahelle) in the Nouveau Diet. 
Hist, a Caen, 1786, adds, to the account of her 
son's theatrical pieces, " On a encore d'Andreini 
trois Traites en faveur de la Comedie et des Co- 

• Hist. Memoir on Ital. Tragedy, p. 160. 

k " Giovanni Battista Andreini, Fiorentino, o piuttosto Pisto- 
jese, fu figlio della celebre Comica Isabella Andreini (della quale 
si veda il Bayle, e il Mazzuchelli,) e nacque nel 1578. Dopo 
essersi acquistato molto credito sulle Scene Italiane porrossi in 
Francia, ove si merito la stima di Luigi XIII. Visse per lo 
meno sino al 1652." From the remarks before mentioned of Prince 
Giustiniani. — It is not impossible, that Milton might have seen 
and conversed with Andreini, when he visited France and Italy. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XV 

mediens, publies a Paris en 1625 ; ils sont fort 
rares." 

II. The next remark respecting the Origin of 
Paradise Lost is that of Dr. Pearee, who, in the 
Preface to his Review of the Text of the twelve 
books, &c published in 1733, says, " It is probable 
that Milton took the first hint of the Poem from an 
Italian tragedy, called II Paradiso Per so ; for I am 
informed that there is such an one extant, printed 
many years before Milton entered upon his design." 
Mr. Hayley, in a very extensive research, has been 
able to discover no such performance. Nor have my 
inquiries been more successful, 

III. We are next informed, in the Preface to the 
poetical works of the Rev. J. Sterling, printed at 
Dublin in 1734, that Cf The great Milton is said to 
have ingenuously confessed that he owed his immor- 
tal work of Paradise Lost to Mr. Fletcher's Zo- 
custce? The person here mentioned is Phineas 
Fletcher, better known by his poem, entitled the 
Purple Island ; and the Locust <e is a spirited Latin 
poem, written against the 1 Jesuits, and published 

1 The Jesuits were called Locusts, in the theological language 
of this period. See Sundrie Sermons by bishop Lake, fol. 1629, 
p. 205. " There is a kind of metaphoricall Locusts and Cater- 
pillers, Locusts that came out of the bottomlesse pit ; I meane 
popish Priests and lesuits ; the Catterpillers of the Common - 
weale, Proiectors and inuentors of new tricks how to exhaust the 
purses of the subiects, couering priuate ends with publicke pre- 
tences." 

c c 



XVI AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

at Cambridge, while Milton was a student there, 
in 1627 ; as was also the same author's Locusts, or 
Apollyonists, an English poem, consisting of five 
cantos. That Milton had read both the Latin and 
English Poem of Fletcher, I am persuaded ; for I 
have met with passages in both, with which he ap- 
pears indeed to have been pleased. But Milton's 
obligations to Fletcher are too confined to admit so 
extensive an acknowledgement, as that which is con- 
tained in Mr. Sterling's Preface ; and indeed the au- 
thority of the anecdote has not been given. Mr. 
Sterling has translated with great spirit the speech 
of Lucifer to his Angels in the Locust ce, vel Pie t as 
Jesuitica. See his poems, p. 43. As Fletcher's 
Latin Poem is little known, it may be here proper 
to select, from this speech, the lines which seem to 
have influenced the imagination of Milton, and per^- 
haps to have given rise to the preceding anecdote. 

**■ Nos contra immemori per tuta silentia somno 
" Stemimur interea, et, media jam luce supini 
" Stertentes, festam trahimus, pia turba, quietem. 
" Quod si animos sine honore acti sine fine laboris 
" Pcenitet, et proni imperii regnique labantis 
" Nil miseret, positis flagris, odiisque remissis, 
" Oramus veniam, et dextras praebemus inermes. 
" Fors ille audacis facti, et justae immemor irae, 
" Placatus, facilisque manus et feed era junget. 
" Fors solito lapsos (peccati oblitus) honori 
" Restituet, ccelum nobis soliumque relinquet. 
" At me nulla dies animi, cceptique prions, 
" Dissimilem arguerit : quin nunc rescindere coelum, 
" Et conjurato victricem milite pacem 
" Rumpere, ferventique juvat miscere tumultu. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XV11 

" Quo tanti eecidere animi ? Quo pristina virtus 
" Cessit, in aeternam qua mecum irrumpere lucem 
" Tentastis, trepidumque armis perfringere coelum ? 
" Nunc vero indecores felicia ponitis arma, 
" Et toties victo imbelles conceditis hosti. 
" Per vos, per domitas ccelesti fulmine vires, 
4< Indomitumque odium, projecta resumite tela 4 
V Dum fas, dum breve tempus adest, accendite pugnas, 
" Restaurate acies, fractumque reponite Martem. 
" Ni facitis, mox soli, et (quod magis urit) inulti, 
" iEternum (heu) vacuo flammis cruciabimur antro. 
" Ille quidem nulla, heu, nulla violabilis arte, 
16 Securum sine fine tenet, sine milite regnuna; 
** A nullo patitur, nullo violatur ab hoste : 
" Compatitur tamen, inque suis violabile membris 
" Corpus habet : nunc 6 totis consurgite telis, 
vS< Qua patet ad vulnus nudum sine tegmine corpus, 
" Imprimite ultrices, penitusque recondite, flammas. 
" Accelerat funesta dies, jam limine tempus 
*' Insistit, cum nexa ipso cum vertice membra 
" Naturam induerint ccelestem, ubi gloria votum 
** Atque animum splendor superent, ubi gaudia damno 
*' Crescant, deliciaeque modum, finemque recusent. 
" At nos supplicio aeterno, Stygiisque catenis 
" Compressi, flammis et vivo sulphure tecti, 
" Perpetuas duro solvemus carcere pcenas. 
" Hie anima, extremes jam turn perpessa dolores, 
" Majores semper metuit, queriturque remotam, 
" Quam toto admisit praesentem pectore, mortem, 
" Oraque caeruleas perreptans flamma medullas 
** Torquet anhela siti, fibrasque atque ilia lambit. 
** Mors vivit, moriturque inter mala mille superstes 
" Vita, vicesque ipsa cum morte, et nomina mutat. 
*' Cum vero nullum moriendi conscia finem 
" Mens reputat, cum mille annis mille addidit annos, 
" PraBteritumque nihil venturo detrahit aevum, 
11 Mox etiam Stellas, etiam superaddit arenas ; 

c c 2 



XVlll AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

" Poena tamen damno crescit, per flagra, per ignes, 
" Per quicquid miserum est, praeceps ruit, anxia lentam 
" Provocat infelix mortem ; si forte relabi 
" Possit, et in nihilum rursus dispersa resolvi. 

" iEquemus meritis poenas, atque ultima passis 
" Plura tamen magnis exactor debeat ausis ; 
" Tartarcis mala speluncis, vindictaque coelo 
>' Deficiat ; nunquam, nunquam crudelis inultos, 
" Immeritosve, Erebus capiet : meruisse nefandum 
" Supplicium medios inter solabitur ignes, 
" Et, licet immensos, factis superasse dolores. 
" Nunc agite, 6 Proceres, omnesque efFundite technas, 
" Consulate, imperioque alacres succurrite lapso. 

" Dixerat, insequitur fremitus, trepidantiaque inter 
" Agmina submissae franguntur murmure voces. 
" Qualis, ubi Oceano mox praecipitandus Ibero 
" Immineat Phoebus, flavique ad litora Chami 
" Conveniant, glomerantque per auras agmina muscae, 
" Fit sonitus ; longo crescentes ordine turbae 
" Buccinulis voces acuunt, sociosque vocantes, 
u Vndas nube premunt ; strepitu vicinia rauco 
*' Completur, resonantque accensis litora bombis." 

The simile, which here follows this speech, resem- 
bles, in some degree, that of Milton in his poem on 
the fifth of November, ver. 176, &c. and also Par. 
Lost, B. i. 768. To which we might add the as- 
sembly of devils, summoned before Lucifer in the 
old French morality of The Assumption, 1527. 

" Ung grand tas de dyables plus drus 
" Que moucherons en V air volans. — " 

Milton's Latin poem is dated at the age of seven- 
teen, namely in 1625. Fletcher's was published in 
1627. The subjects of both are certainly similar. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XIX 

Fletcher, whose diction and imagery are often ex- 
tremely beautiful, was educated at Eton, whence he 
was sent to King's College, Cambridge, in 1600 : 
became B.A. in 1604, and M.A. in 1608 ; was after- 
wards beneficed at Hilgay in Norfolk, and died in 
1649. 

IV. Hitherto what had been mentioned as hints, 
to which the active mind of Milton might not be 
insensible, had been mentioned without betraying a 
wish to tear the laurels from the brow of the great 
poet. Not such was the intelligence conveyed to 
the publick by the malicious Lauder. He, unfor- 
tunate man, scrupled not to disgrace the consider- 
able learning which he possessed, and to forfeit all 
pretensions to probity, by an audacious endeavour 
to prove that Milton was " the worst and greatest 
of all plagiaries." He acquired, indeed, a tempo- 
rary credit, and engaged a powerful advocate in 
his cause, by the speciousness of his charge. But 
he " played most foully for it." He corrupted the 
text of those poets, whom he produced as evidences 
against the originality of Milton, by interpolating 
several verses either of his own fabrication, or from 
the Latin translation of Paradise Lost, by William 
Hog. His enmity to Milton first discovered itself, 
on Dr. Newton's publishing his proposals for print- 
ing a new edition of the Paradise Lost with Notes 
of various authors ; which appeared in 1749. He 
affirmed that " he could prove," Dr. Newton says, 
(giving an account of his interview with Lauder,) 



XX AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

" that Milton had borrowed the substance of whole 
books together, and that there was scarcely a single 
thought or sentiment in his Poem which he had not 
stolen from some author or other, notwithstanding 
his vain pretence to things unattempted yet in prose 
or rhyme. And then, in confirmation of his charge, 
he recited a long roll of Scotch, German, and Dutch 
poets, and affirmed that he had brought the books 
along with him which were his vouchers ; and ap- 
pealed particularly to Ramsay, a Scotch divine, and 
to Masenius, a German Jesuit : But, upon producing 
his authors, he could not find Masenius; he had 
dropped the book somewhere or other in the way, 
and expressed much surprise and concern for the 
loss of it ; Ramsay he left with me, and my opinion 
of Milton's imitations of that author I have given in 
a Note on B. ix. 513. I knew very well that Mil- 
ton was an universal scholar, as famous for his great 
reading as for the extent of his genius : and I thought 
it not improbable, that Mr. Lauder, having the good 
fortune to meet with these German and Dutch 
poems, might have traced out there some of his 
imitations and allusions, which had escaped the re- 
searches of others : and it was my advice to him 
then, and as often as I had opportunities of seeing 
him afterwards, that if he had really made such 
notable discoveries as he boasted, he would do well 
to communicate them to the publick ; an ingenious 
countryman of his had published an Essay upon 
Milton s Imitations of the Ancients, and he would 
equally deserve the thanks of the learned world by 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXI 

writing an Essay upon Milton's Imitations of the 
Moderns ; but at the same time I recommended to 
him a little more modesty and decency, and urged 
all the arguments I could to persuade him to treat 
Milton's name with more respect, and not to write 
of him with the same acrimony and rancour with 
which he spoke of him ; it would weaken his cause 
instead of strengthening it, and would hurt himself 
more than Milton in the opinion of all candid read- 
ers. He began with publishing some specimens of 
his work in The Gentleman s Magazine : and I 
was sorry to find that he had no better regarded 
my advice in his manner of writing ; for his papers 
were much in the same strain and spirit as his con- 
versation ; his assertions strong, and his proofs weak. 
However, to do him justice, several of the quota- 
tions which he had made from Adamus Exul, a 
tragedy of the famous Hugo Grotius, I thought so 
exactly parallel to several passages in the Paradise 
Lost, that I readily adopted them, and inserted 
them without scruple in my Notes ; esteeming it no 
reproach to Milton, but rather a commendation of 
his taste and judgement, to have gathered so many 
of the choicest flowers in the gardens of others, and 
to have transplanted them with improvements into 
his own. At length, after I had published my first 
edition of the Paradise Lost, came forth Mr. Lau- 
der's Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of the 
Moderns : but except the quotations from Grotius, 
which I had already inserted in my first edition, I 
found in Mr. Lauder's authors not above half a dozen 



XXU AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

passages, which I thought worth transferring into 
my second edition ; not but he had produced more 
passages somewhat resembling others in Milton ; but 
when a similitude of thought or expression, of senti- 
ment or description, occurs in Scripture and we will 
say in Staphorstius, in Virgil and perhaps in Alex- 
ander Ross, in Ariosto and perhaps in Taubmannus, 
I should rather conclude that Milton had borrowed 
from the former whom he is certainly known to have 
read, than from the latter whom it is very uncertain 
whether he had ever read or not. We know that 
he had often drawn, and delighted to draw, from the 
pure fountain ; and why then should we believe that 
he chose rather to drink of the stream after it was 
polluted by the trash and filth of others ? We know 
that he had thoroughly studied, and was perfectly 
acquainted with, the graces and beauties of the great 
originals ; and why then should we think that he was 
only the servile copier of perhaps a bad copy, which 
perhaps he had never seen ?" 

If Lauder had traced the marks of imitation in 
Milton with truth and candour ; if he had modestly 
noted images or sentiments apparently transferred 
from other writers, yet still perhaps fortuitous coin- 
cidences ; he would have gratified rational curiosity. 
But he was intent on blackening the fame of Milton. 
He published, besides his Essay, " Delectus Auc- 
torum Sacrorum Miltono Facem Prtelucentium m " 

m Tri 1752,- and 1753. ' 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXlll 

in two volumes ; of which the first contained " n An- 
dra3ae Ramssei Poemata Sacra/' and " ° Hugonis 
GrotiiAdamus Exul, Tragoedia :" the second, " ? Ja- 
cobi Masenii Sarcotidos Libri tres/' — " q Odorici 
Valmaranae Dasmonomachiag Liber unus/' — " r Cas- 
paris Barlaei Paradisus/' — and " s Frederici Taubmanni 
Bellum Angelicum : Libri tres." But, as Mr. Hay- 
ley finely observes, Milton " by the force and opu- 
lence of his own fancy was exempted from the incli- 
nation, and the necessity, of borrowing and retailing 
the ideas of other poets ; but, rich as he was in his 
own proper fund, he chose to be perfectly acquainted 
not only with the wealth, but even with the poverty, 
of others.", Indeed I may venture to strengthen this 

H From the Edinburgh edit, of 1633. 

° From the edition of the Hague, 1601. 

p From the edition of Cologne, 1644. The fourth and fifth 
books are printed in Barbou's edition of the Sarcotis, printed at 
Paris, in 1781 : to which are prefixed two Letters " Aux RR. 
PP. Jesuites Auteurs des Memoires de Trevoux, Oil Von com- 
pare le Paradis Perdu de Milton avec le Poeme intitule Sar- 
cotis du R.P» Jacques Masenius, Jesuife Allemand" The li- 
beral writer of the Article, Masenius, in the Nouveau Diet. Hist, 
a Caen, 1785, considers the pretended obligations of Milton to 
Masenius too trifling to be mentioned. 

q From the Vienna edit. 1627. 

r This is a translation from the Paradise of Catsius, originally 
written in Dutch. It is an epithalamium on the nuptials of 
Adam and Eve ; and Mr. Hayley pronounces it to be spirited and 
graceful. Many of Catsius's Dutch poems were translated into 
Latin verse a Caspare Barlseo, et Cornelio Boyo, and first pub- 
lished in their new dress at Dordrecht in 1643. 

s This poem, consisting of two books, and a fragment of a 
third, Mr. Hayley says, was originally printed in 1604. 



XXIV AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

observation by Milton's own words, in which he 
seems to promise the production of some great poe- 
tical work. " * Neither do I think it shame to co- 
venant with any knowing reader, that for some few 
years yet I may go on trust with him towards the 
payment of what I am now indebted, as being a 
work not to be raised from the heat of youth, or the 
vapours of wine ; like that which flows at waste from 
the pen of some vulgar amorist, or the trencher fury 
of some riming parasite ; nor to be obtained by the 
invocation of Dame Memory and her Siren Daugh- 
ters, but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit, 
who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, 
and sends out his Seraphim, with the hallowed fire 
of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he 
pleases : to this must be added industrious and se- 
lect reading, steady observation, insight into all 
seemly and generous arts and affairs." Mr. Hayley 
therefore may be justified in his opinion, that Milton 
read, in different languages, authors of every class ; 
" and I doubt not," he adds, '" but he had perused 
every poem collected by Lauder, though some of 
them hardly afford ground enough for a conjecture, 
that he remembered any passage they contain, in the 
course of his nobler composition." 

V. We are next presented with the following in- 
formation of a learned and ingenious traveller, well 

1 Of Reformation, &c. B. ii. Prose-Works, vol. i. p. 223. 
edit. 1698. This was first published in 164L 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXV 

known to the literary world by his eminent services 
in the cause of Christianity. " u During my short 
stay at Dusseldorf, I became acquainted with a baron 
de Harold, an Irishman, who is colonel of the regi- 
ment of Koningsfeld, &c. — But my reason for men- 
tioning the baron, was to inform you, that he is now 
employed in translating, into English verse, a Latin 
poem, entitled The Christiad, written by Robert 
Clarke, a Carthusian monk of the convent of Nieu- 
port near Ostend ; from which he asserts that our 
great poet has borrowed largely. The poem, which 
is on the Passion of Christ, in seventeen books, con- 
tains, indeed, many ideas and descriptions, strikingly 
similar to those of Milton in his Paradise Lost. 
But, unless the baron can produce an edition pre- 
vious to that which he possesses, which was printed 
at Bruges in 1678, it will be difficult to convict 
Milton of plagiarism in this instance ; for Johnson, 
if I recollect rightly, informs us, that Elwood saw 
a complete copy of the Paradise Lost at Milton's 
house, at Chalfont, in 1665 ; that Milton sold the 
copy in 1667, and that the third edition was printed 
in 1678, when it is probable that many copies had 
passed over to the continent, and contributed to en- 
crease the reputation which his name had gained 
abroad ; and therefore we have a right to suppose, 
that Clarke, and not Milton, was the copyist: The 



tt Letters during the course of a tour through Germany in 
1791 and 1792, by Robert Gray, M.A. published in 1794, pp. 
19—21. 



XXVI AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

poem, however, appears to have much merit. The 
baron has finished ten or eleven books, with what 
fidelity I know not, but certainly with much anima- 
tion. Milton has often been accused of plagiarism, 
it is to be feared sometimes with truth ; for though 
bishop Douglas, with great acuteness, detected Lau- 
der's interpolations in the works of different writers, 
which were designed to disparage Milton's reputa- 
tion, he by no means undertook to prove, that Mil- 
ton's claim to originality might not, in other in- 
stances, be impeached; and Lauder, though per- 
suaded by Dr. Johnson to give up, in a hasty fit of 
shame, his whole Essay as an imposition, afterwards, 
in part, recanted his recantation, and attempted, 
with some success, to prove the charge of forgery 
against Milton. But it is time to put an end to this 
digression designed to vindicate Milton, as every 
Englishman must wish to do, where he can be vin- 
dicated without injury to truth." 

To the latter part of this remark it will be proper 
to subjoin the words of bishop Douglas, " Grown 
desperate by his disappointment, this very man, 
[[Lauder J whom but a little before we have seen as 
abject in the confession of his forgeries, as he had 
been bold in the contrivance of them, with an in- 
consistence, equalled only by his impudence, re- 
newed his attack upon the author of the Paradise 
Lost ; and a x pamphlet, published for that purpose, 

x Entitled, " King Charles I. Vindicated from the charge of 



ORIGIN OF PARADSIE LOST. XXV11 

acquainted the world, that the true reason which 
had excited him to contrive his forgery was, because 
Milton had attacked the character of Charles the 
First, by interpolating Pamela's prayer from the A r- 
cadia, in an edition of the Icon Basilike ; hoping, 
no doubt, by this curious key to his conduct, to be 
received into favour, if not by the friends of truth, 
at least by the idolaters of the royal martyr : the 
zeal of this wild party-man against Milton having 
at the same time extended itself against his biogra- 
pher, the very learned Dr. Birch, for no other rea- 
son but because he was so candid as to express his 
disbelief of a tradition unsupported by evidence. ,, 

I have been unable to discover whether there is 
any edition of Clarke's book, prior to that which is 
mentioned. 

VI. We are now to be again gratified with the 
very curious researches, and ingenious deductions, 
of Mr. Hayley. Having observed it to be highly 
probable, that Andreini turned the thoughts of Mil- 
ton from Alfred to Adam, as the subject of a dra- 
matick composition, he thinks it possible that an 
Italian writer, less known than Andreini, first threw 
into the mind of Milton the idea of converting Adam 
into an epich personage. " y I have now before 

plagiarism, brought against him by Milton, and Milton himself 
convicted of forgery, and a gross imposition on the publick." 

y Conjectures on the origin of Paradise Lost, at the end of the 
Life of Milton, 2d edit. 1796, p. 264, &c. 



XXV111 AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

me," he proceeds, " a literary curiosity, which my 
accomplished friend, Mr. Walker, to whom the lite- 
rature of Ireland has many obligations, very kindly 
sent me, on his return from an excursion to Italy, 
where it happened to strike a traveller, whose mind 
is peculiarly awakened to elegant pursuits. The 
hook I am speaking of is entitled La Scena Tra- 
gica d'Adamo ed Eva, Estratta dalli primi tre 
€api delta Sacra Genesi, e ridotta a significato 
Morale da Troilo Lancetta, Benacense. Venetia, 
1644. This little work is dedicated to Maria Gon- 
zaga, Duchess of Mantua, and is nothing more than 
•a drama in prose, of the ancient form, entitled a 
morality, on the expulsion of our first parents from 
Paradise. The author does not mention Andreini, 
nor has he any mixture of verse in his composition ; 
but, in his address to the reader, he has the follow- 
ing very remarkable passage : after suggesting that 
the Mosaick history of Adam and Eve is purely 
allegorical, and designed as an incentive to virtue, 
he says, 

' Una notte sognai, che Moise mi porse gratiosa esposi- 
tione, e misterioso significato con parole tali apunto : 

* Dio fa parte all' Huom di se stesso con Y intervento della 
ragione, e dispone con infallibile sentenza, che signoreggi- 
ando in lui la medesma sopra le sensuali voglie, preservato il 
pomo del proprio core dalli appetiti disordinati, per guider- 
done di giusta obbedienza li trasforma il mondo in Para- 
diso. — Di questo s'io parlassi, al sicuro formarei heroico 
poema convenevole a semidei.' 

' One night I dreamt that Moses explained to me the 
mystery, almost in these words : 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXIX 

' God reveals himself to Man by the intervention of rea- 
son, and thus infallibly ordains that reason, while she sup- 
ports her sovereignty over the sensual inclinations in Man, 
and preserves the apple of his heart from licentious appe- 
tites, in reward of his just obedience transforms the world 
into Paradise. — Of this were I to speak, assuredly I might 
form an heroick poem worthy of demi-gods.' 

" It strikes me as possible that these last words, 
assigned to Moses in his vision by Troilo Lancetta, 
might operate on the mind of Milton like the 
question of Ellwood ; and prove, in his prolifick 
fancy, a kind of rich graft on the idea he derived 
from Andreini, and the germ of his greatest pro- 
duction. 

" A sceptical critick, inclined to discountenance 
this conjecture, might indeed observe, it is more 
probable that Milton never saw a little volume not 
published until after his return from Italy, and 
written by an author so obscure, that his name does 
not occur in Tiraboschi's elaborate history of Italian 
literature ; nor in the patient Italian chronicler of 
poets, Quadrio, though he bestows a chapter on 
early dramatick compositions in prose. But the 
mind, that has once started a conjecture of this na- 
ture, must be weak indeed, if it cannot produce new 
shadows of argument in aid of a favourite hypo- 
thesis. Let me therefore be allowed to advance, as 
a presumptive proof of Milton's having seen the work 
of Lancetta, that he makes a similar use of Moses, 
and introduces him to speak a prologue in the 



XXX AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

sketch of his various plans for an allegorical drama. 
It is indeed, possible that Milton might never see 
the performances either of Lancetta or Andreini; 
yet conjecture has ground enough to conclude very 
fairly, that he was acquainted with both ; for An- 
dreini wrote a long allegorical drama on Paradise, 
and we know that the fancy of Milton first began to 
play with the subject according to that peculiar form 
of composition. Lancetta treated it also in the 
shape of a dramatick allegory ; but said, at the same 
time, under the character of Moses, that the subject 
might form an incomparable epick poem; and 
Milton quitting his own hasty sketches of allegorical 
dramas, accomplished a work which answers to that 
intimation." 

The following analysis of this drama has been 
made by Mr. Hayley. 

ACT I. Scene 1. " God commemorates his creation 
of the heavens, the earth, and the water — determines to 
make Man — gives him vital spirit, and admonishes him to 
revere his Maker, and live innocent. 

Scene ii. " Raphael, Michael, Gabriel, and 
Angels. Raphael praises the works of God — the other 
Angels follow his example, particularly in regard to Man. 

Scene in. "God and Adam. God gives Paradise 
to Adam to hold as a fief — forbids him to touch the apple — 
Adam promises obedience. 

Scene iv. " Adam. Acknowledges the beneficence 
of God, and retires to repose in the shade. 

ACT II. Scene i. " God and Adam. God resolves 
to form a companion for Adam, and does so while Adam is 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXXI 

sleeping — he then awakes Adam, and, presenting to him his 
new associate, blesses them both ; then leaves them, recom- 
mending obedience to his commands. 

Scene ii. "Adam and Eve. Adam receives Eve as 
his wife — praises her, and entreats her to join with him in 
revering and obeying God — she promises submission to his 
will — and intreats his instruction — he tells her the prohibi- 
tion, and enlarges on the beauties of Paradise — on his 
speaking of flocks, she desires to see them, and he departs 
to show her the various animals. 

Scene hi. " Lucifer, Belial, Satan. Lucifer 
laments his expulsion from heaven, and meditates revenge 
against Man — the other Demons relate the cause of their 
expulsion, and stimulate Lueifer to the revenge he medi- 
tates — he resolves to employ the Serpent. 

Scene iv. " The Serpent, Eve, Lucifer. The 
Serpent questions Eve — "derides her fear and her obedience 
—tempts her to taste the apple — she expresses her eager- 
ness to do so — the Serpent exults in the prospect of her 
perdition — Lucifer (who seems to remain as a separate per- 
son from the Serpent) expresses also his exultation, and 
steps aside to listen to a dialogue between Adam and Eve. 

Scene v. " Eve, Adam. Eve declares her resolution 
to taste the apple, and present it to her husband— she tastes 
it, and expresses unusual hope and animation — she says the 
Serpent has not deceived her — she feels no sign of death, and 
presents the fruit to her husband — he reproves her — she 
persists in pressing him to eat — he complies — declares the 
fruit sweet, but begins to tremble at his own nakedness — he 
repents, and expresses his remorse and terrour — Eve pro- 
poses to form a covering of leaves — they retire to hide 
themselves in foliage. 

ACT III. Scene i. Lucifer, Belial, Satan. Luci- 
fer exults in his success, and the other Demons applaud him. 

Scene ii. " Raphael, Michael, Gabriel. These 
good Spirits lament the fall, and retire with awe on the ap- 
pearance of God. 

d d 



XXXII AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

Scene in. " God, Eve, Adam. God calls on Adam 
— he appears and laments his nakedness — God interrogates 
him concerning the tree — he confesses his offence, and ac- 
cuses Eve — she blames the Serpent — God pronounces his 
malediction, and sends them from his presence. 

Scene iv. " Raphael, Eve, and Adam. Raphael 
bids them depart from Paradise — Adam laments his destiny 
—Raphael persists in driving them rather harshly from the 
garden — Adam begs that his innocent children may not 
suffer for the fault of their mother — Raphael replies, that 
not only his children, but all his race must suffer; and con- 
tinues to drive them from the garden — Adam obeys — Eve 
laments, but soon comforts Adam — he at length departs, 
animating himself with the idea, that to an intrepid heart 
every region is a home. 

Scene v. " A Cherub, moralizing on the creation and 
fall of Adam, concludes the third and last Act." 

Mr. Walker, in his Historical Memoir on Ita- 
lian Tragedy, has enlarged this analysis with some 
specimens of the author's style and manner, together 
with a z fac simile of the quaint table exhibiting the 
" morale esposatione" of the work. From the same 
ingenious and entertaining volume we learn that, 
" as a Lancetta denominates himself Benacense, it is 
presumed he was a native of that part of the riviera 
of Said, on the lago di Garda, which is called Toso- 
lano, and whose inhabitants are styled Benacenses, 
from Benacus, the ancient name of the lake. He 
was, he modestly declares, neither a poet nor an 
orator, ' poeta non son' io, ne oratore,' but I am 
willing to believe he was a good man, and that it 

2 Hist. Mem. Appendix, p. xlviii — lvi. 
* Hist. Mem. p. 172. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXXlll 

was rather his virtues than his talents which recom- 
mended him to the accomplished family of Gonzaga, 
of which he seems to have been a protege. Such is 
the deep obscurity in which this author is buried, 
that the most sedulous inquiry has not led to the 
discovery of any authentick notices concerning him. 
His drama is slightly mentioned by Allacci, who 
supposes it to be his only production." 

Mr. Hay ley adds, to his remarks on the dramas 
of Andreini and Lancetta, that Milton was probably 
familiar with an Italian poem, little known in Eng- 
land, and formed expressly on the conflict of the 
apostate Spirits ; the Angeleida del Sig. Erasmo 
di Valvasone, Venet. 1590. Dr. Warton was of 
the same opinion. And Mr. Hayley has cited the 
verses, in which the Italian poet assigns to the In- 
fernal Powers the invention of artillery. With this 
poem, I think, the mind of Milton could not but be 
affected. It begins : 

" Io cantero del ciel V antica guerra, 

" Per cui sola il principio, et 1' uso nacque, 

" Onde tra il seme human non pur in terra, 

" Ma souente si pugna anchor su T acque : 

" Carcere eterno nel abisso serra 

"* Quel che ne fu 1' authore, et vinto giacque : 

" E i vincitori in parte eccelsa, et alma 

" Godon trionfo eterno, eterna palma." 

Valvasone's description of the triumphant Angels 
in B. iii. is particularly interesting. The poem 
concludes with an animated Sonnet to the Arch- 

d d 2 



XXXIV AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

angel Michael, preceded by the four following 
lines : 

" Cosi disse Michele, et da le pure 

" Ciglia di Dio refulse un chiaro lampo, 

*' Che gli die segno del diuino assenso, 

" E tutto il Ciel fu pien di gaudio immenso." 

u AW Arcangelo Michele. 

" Eccelso Heroe, Campion inuitto, et Santo 

" De 1' imperio diuin, per cui pigliasti 

" L' alta contesa, e '1 reo Dragon cacciasti 

" Da V auree stelle debellato, et franto ; 
" Et hor non men giu ne 1' eterno pianto, 

" Onde ei risorger mal s' attenta, i vasti 

**• Orgogli suoi reprimi, et gli contrasti, 

" A nostro schermo con continuo vanto ; 
'* Questi miei noui accenti, onde traluce 

" La gran tua gloria, e '1 mio deuoto affetto, 

" Accogli tu fin da F empirea luce : 
" Sieno in vece di preghi, et al cospetto 

" Gli porta poi del sempiterno Duce, 

"■ Che di sua gratia adempia il mio difetto." 

Mr. Hayley seems to think also, that Milton may 
be sometimes traced in the Strage de gli Innocenti 
of Marino." The late Mr. Bowie appears to have en- 
tertained a similar notion. And such was Mr. T. War- 
ton's opinion. In the Paradise Lost indeed I have 
traced several proofs of obligation to it. It was first 
published at Venice in 1633 ; and consists of four 
books : 1. " Sospetto d'Herode : 2. Consiglio ' de 
Satrapi: 3. Essecutione della Strage: 4. II Limbo." 
Milton has been b thought indebted likewise to Cra- 

* Biogr. Brit. edit. Kippis,; vol. iv. p. 43 L 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXXV 

shaw, the translator of the first of these books. I 
will select a few passages, therefore, from this ver- 
sion, which seem to have afforded some countenance 
to the opinion. Sospetto cVHerode, stanza 5. , De- 
scription of Satan, Crashaw's Poems, edit. 1648, p. 59. 

" His eyes, the sullen dens of death and night, 

" Startle the dull ay re with a dismall red : 

" Such his fell glances as the fatall light 

" Of staring comets, that looke kingdomes dead. 



" He shooke himselfe, and spread his spatious wings ; 
" Which, like two bosom'd sailes, embrace the dimme 

" Aire, with a dismall shade ; but all in vaine ; 

" Of sturdy adamant is his strong chaine." 

Part of his speech : st. 28. 

" And should we Powers of Heaven, Spirits of worth, 
" Bow our bright heads before a king of clay ? 
" It shall not be, said I, and clombe the North, 
" Where never wing of Angell yet made way. 

" What though I mist my blow ? yet I strooke high ; 

" And, to dare something, is some victory. 

31. 

" Ah wretch ! what bootes thee to cast back thy eyes, 
" Where dawning hope no beame of comfort showes ? 
" While the reflection of thy forepast joys, 
** Renders thee double to thy present woes ; 
" Rather make up to thy new miseries, 
" And meete the mischiefe that upon thee growes. 
*' If Hell must mourne, Heaven sure shall sympathize : 
" What force cannot effect, fraud shall devise. 

32. 

M And yet whose force feare I ? have I so lost 
" Myselfe ? my strength too with my innocence ? 



XXXVI AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

" Come, try who dares, Heaven, Earth ; whate erdpst boast 
" A borrovv'd being, make thy bold defence : 
" Come thy Creator too ; what though it cost 
" Me yet a second fall ? we'd try our strengths. 
" Heaven saw us struggle once ; as brave a fight 
" Earth now should see, and tremble at the sight. 

33. 

" Thus spoke the impatient Prince, and made a pause : 
" His foule hags rais'd their heads, and clapt their hands; 
" And all the Powers of Hell, in full applause, 
" Flourisht their snakes, and tost their flaming brands. 
" We, said the horrid sisters, wait thy lawes, 
" The obsequious handmaids of thy high commands : 
" Be it thy part, Hell's mighty lord, to lay 
" On us thy dread commands ; ours to obey. 

34. 

" What thy Alecto, what these hands, can doe, 
" Thou mad'st bold proofe upon the brow of Heaven ; 
" Nor should'st thou bate in pride, because that now 
" To these thy sooty kingdomes thou art driven. 
" Let Heaven's Lord chide above, lowder than thou, 
" In language of his thunder ; thou art even 
" With him below : Here thou art lord alone 
" Boundlesse and absolute : Hell is thine owne." 

That Crashaw and Milton should concur in simi- 
lar sentiments and expressions, when Marino dictates 
to both, can be a matter of little surprise. But, 
when we compare the passages in Milton which may 
be considered as harmonizing with these in Crashaw, 
we shall not hesitate to declare that, in bold and 
glowing phraseology, as well as in beautiful and ex- 
pressive numbers, the palm, due to the improvement 
of the original, belongs to the former. Nor shall we 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXXV11 

forget the hints from iEschylus and Dante, which 
Milton finely interweaves in the character of his 
Prince of darkness. Milton, no doubt, had read 
Crashaw's translation ; as he had read the transla- 
tions also of Ariosto and Tasso by Harington and 
Fairfax ; to various passages in which he has, in like 
manner, added new graces resulting from his own 
imagination and judgement. There are also a few 
resemblances in Crashaw's poetry to passages in Mil- 
ton, which I have had occasion to notice. Crashaw 
too, I may add, is entitled to the merit of sug- 
gesting the combination and form of several happy 
phrases to Pope. Of a poet, thus distinguished, I 
take this opportunity to subjoin a few particulars 
from the unpublished manuscript of his fellow-colle- 
gian, Dr. John Bargrave. " c When I went first of 
my 4 times to Rome, there were there 4 revolters to 
the Roman Church, that had binn fellowes of Peter- 
house in Cambridge with my selfe. The name of one 
of them was Mr. R. Crashaw, whoe was of the 
Seguita (as their tearme is), that is, an attendant, or 
one of the followers of Cardinall Palotta, for which 
he had a salary of crownes by the month, (as the 
custome is,) but no dyet. Mr. Crashaw infinitely 
commended his Cardinall, but complayned extreamely 
of the wickedness of those of his retinue, of which he, 
having his Cardinally eare, complayned to him ; vpon 
which the Italians fell so farr owt with him, that the 

c After the restoration of Charles II. Dr. Bargrave became 
Prebendary of Canterbury, to the Library of which Cathedral 
he gave many books, &c. See the Life of Milton, &c. p. 37. 



XXXV111 AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

Cardinally to secure his life, was faine to putt him 
from his service ; and, procuring him some smale 
imploy at the Lady's of Loretto, whither he went in 
pilgrimage in summer time, and overheating him- 
selfe dyed in few weeks after he came thither ; and 
it was doubtfull whether he were not poysoned." — 

Mr. Hayley notices the existence also of the fol- 
lowing pieces relating to Milton's subject : 

i. Adamo Caduto, tragedia sacra, di Serafino della Sa- 
landra. Cozenzo, 1647. 8vo. 

ii. La Battaglia Celeste tra Michele e Lucifero, di An- 
tonio Alfarri, Palermitano. Palermo, 1568. 4to. 

iii. Dell* Adamo di Giovanni Soranzo, Genova, 1604. 
12mo. 

They had, however, escaped the researches of Mr. 
Hayley. Signor Signorelli, the learned and elegant 
correspondent of Mr. Walker on subjects connected 
with his d Memoir on Italian Tragedy, published 
in 1799, had not then seen them. Whether Milton 
had perused them, must therefore be a matter of 
future inquiry. But Mr. Walker has observed, that 
all the commentators pass over the obligations of 
Milton to the Gerusalemme Distrutta of Marino. 
From the seventh canto, which is e all that is printed, 
and which is subjoined to two small editions of the 
Strage de gli Innocenti in his possession, Mr. 
Walker has made a few extracts ; and I have found 

•' See the Hist. Mem. Appendix, p. xxxiii. 
e Ibid. p. xxx 



:xvi. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXXIX" 

them certainly applicable to some descriptions in 
the Paradise Lost. Mr. Hayley further notices 
the probable attention of Milton to Tasso's f Le 
Sette Giornate del Mondo Creato ; and Dr. 
Warton agreed with him. Tasso, like Milton, 
follows indeed almost the very words of Scripture 
in relating the commands of God on the seve- 
ral days of the Creation. The poem is in blank 
verse. I submit to the reader the following pious 
address : 

" Dimmi, qual opra alhora, 6 qual riposo 

" Fosse ne la Diuina, e Sacra Mente 

" In quel d' eternita felice stato. 

*' E 'n qual ignota parte, e'n quale idea 

" Era 1* essernpio tuo, Celeste Fabro, 

" Quando facesti a te la Reggia, e '1 Tempio. 

" Tu, che '1 sai, tu '1 riuela : e chiare, e conte 

" Signor, per me fa 1' opre, i modi, e 1' arti. 

" Signor, tu se' la mano, io son la cetra, 

" La qual mossa da te, con dolci tempre 

" Di soaue armonia, risuona ; e molce 

" D' adamantino smalto i duri affetti. 

" Signor, tu se' lo spirto, io roca tromba 

" Son per me stesso a la tua gloria ; e langue, 

" Se non m' inspiri tu, la voce, e 1 suono." 

In the preceding verses Milton's address to the 
Holy Spirit, " Instruct me, for thou know'st" is 

f Dr. Warton mentions only the edition of Viterbo, in 1607. 
There had been an earlier edition thus entitled, " I due primi 
Giorni del Mondo Creato, Poesia sacra." Venet. 1600, 4to. 
And there have been several later ; Le sette Giornate &c. 12mo. 
Milan. 1608, Venet. 1609, and Venet. 1637, ult. impress, ri- 
corretta. 



xl AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

perhaps observable. They close also with a similar 
sentiment to his invocation of the same assistance in 
his Paradise Regained, B. i. 11. 

" Thou Spirit, inspire, 

" As thou art wont, my prompted song, else mute." 

VII. A later observation respecting the origin of 
Paradise Lost has been submitted to the publick by 
Mr. Dunster, in " Considerations on Milton's early 
reading, and the prima stamina of Paradise Lost," 
1800. The object of these " Considerations" is to 
prove that Milton became, at a very early period of 
his life, enamoured of Joshua Sylvester's translation 
of the French poet, Du Bartas. Lauder had asserted 
long since that Milton was indebted to Sylvester's 
translation for " numberless fine thoughts, besides 
his low trick of playing upon words, and his frequent 
use of technical terms. From him," he adds, " Mil- 
ton has borrowed many elegant phrases, and single 
words, which were thought to be peculiar to him, or 
rather coined by him ; such as palpable darkness, 
and a thousand others." Lauder has also said, that 
Phillips, Milton's nephew, " every where, in his 
Theatrum Poetarum, either wholly passes over in 
silence such authors as Milton was most obliged to, 
or, if he chances to mention them, does it in the 
most slight and superficial manner imaginable : Du 
Bartas alone excepted." But Sylvester is also 
highly commended, in this work for his translation. 
Mr. Hayley well observes, in apology, for other omis- 
sions of Phillips, " which are too frequent to be con- 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. xli 

sidered as accidental, that he probably chose not to 
enumerate various poems relating to Angels, to 
Adam, and to Paradise, lest ignorance and malice 
should absurdly consider the mere existence of such 
poetry as a derogation from the glory of Milton." 

Lauder adds, that there is " a commentary on this 
work, called A Summary of Du Bart as, a book full 
of prodigious learning, and many curious observa- 
tions on all arts and sciences ; from whence Milton 
has derived a multiplicity of fine hints, scattered up 
and down his poem, especially in philosophy and 
theology." This book was printed in folio, in 1621 ; 
and is recommended, in the title-page, as " fitt for 
the learned to refresh their memories, and for 
younger students to abbreviate and further theire 
studies." From this pretended garden of sweets I 
can collect no nosegay. It cannot indeed be sup- 
posed that Milton, when he wrote the Paradise 
Lost, was so imperfectly acquainted with the purer 
sources of knowledge, as to be indebted to such a 
volume. 

That Milton, however, had read the translation of 
Du Bartas, has been admitted by his warmest ad- 
mirers, Dr. Farmer, Mr. Bowie, Mr. T. Warton, and 
Mr. Headley. A slight remark, which the editor of 
these volumes long since ventured to make, in the 
g Gentleman's Magazine, respecting Milton's ac- 

* See November 1796, p. 900. See also Mr. Dunster's Con- 



Xlii AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

quaintance with the poetry of Sylvester, attracted 
the notice of the author of the Considerations &c. 
just mentioned ; and appears to have stimulated his 
desire to know more of the forgotten bard. Mr. 
Dunster, therefore, having procured an edition of 
Sylvester's Du Bartas, drew up his ingenious vo- 
lume ; and, with no less elegance of language than 
liberality of opinion, pointed out the taste and judge- 
ment of Milton in availing himself of particular pas- 
sages in that book. With honourable affection for 
the fame of Milton, he observes, that " nothing can 
be further from my intention than to insinuate that 
Milton was a plagiarist or servile imitator; but I 
conceive that, having read these sacred poems of 
very high merit, at the immediate age when his own 
mind was just beginning to teem with poetry, he re- 
tained numberless thoughts, passages, and expressions 
therein, so deeply in his mind, that they hung inhe- 
rently on his imagination, and became as it were 
naturalized there. Hence many of them were after- 
wards insensibly transfused into his own composi- 
tions." — Sylvester's Du Bartas was also a popular 
book when Milton began to write poetry ; it was 
published in the very street in which Milton's father 
then lived ; Sylvester was certainly, as was probably 
h Humphry Lownes the printer of the book, puri- 

siderations, &c. p. 3. I take this opportunity of adding, that 
Dr. Farmer's remark occurs in a Note on the " married calm of 
states," in Troilus and Cressida. See Steevens's Shakspeare, edit. 
1793, vol. xi. p. 254. 
h I may observe that the folio edition of Spenser's Faerie 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 



•xliii 



tanically inclined ; Milton's family, professing the 
same religious opinions, would powerfully recom- 
mend to the young student the perusal of this work : 
By such inferences, added to the preceding remark, 
the reader is led to acknowledge the successful man- 
ner, in which Mr. Dunster has accomplished his de- 
sign ; namely, to show Milton's ". early acquaintance 
with, and predilection for, Sylvester's Du Bartas" 
I am persuaded, however, that Milton must have 
sometimes closed the volume with extreme disgust ; 
-and that he then sought gratification in the strains 
of his kindred poets, of Spenser, and of Shakspeare ; 
or of those, whose style was not barbarous like Syl- 
vester's, the enticing Drummond, the learned and 
affecting Drayton, and several other bards of that 
period ; as may be gathered from expressions even 
in his earliest performances. But, to resume Mr. 
Dunster's observation respecting the origin of Para- 
dise Lost : Sylvester's Du Bartas " contains, indeed, 
more material prima stamina of the Paradise Lost, 
than, as I believe, any other book whatever : and my 
hypothesis is, that it positively laid the first stone 
of that ( monumentum sere perennius.' That Arthur 
for a time predominated in Milton's mind over his,, at 



Queene, and of his other poems, in 1611, came from the press of 
Humphry Lownes ; the date at the end of the Faerie Queen is, 
however, 1612. In 1611 also Humphry Lownes printed the se- 
cond edition of the little volume, from which I shall presently 
have occasion to make an extract or two, entitled " Stafford's 
Niobe : or his age of teares. A Treatise no lesse profitable and 
comfortable then, the times damnable," &c. 12mo. 



Xliv AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

length preferred, sacred subject, was probably owing 
to the advice of Manso, and the track of reading into 
which he had then got. How far the Adamo of 
Andreini, or the Scena Tragica dAdamo et Eva 
of Lancetta, as pointed out by Mr. Hayley ; or any 
of the Italian poems on such subjects, noticed by Mr. 
Walker ; contributed to revive his predilection for 
sacred poesy, it is beside my purpose to inquire. If 
he was materially caught by any of these, it served, 
I conceive, only to renew a primary impression 
made on his mind by Sylvester's Du Bartas: al- 
though the Italian dramas might induce him then 
to meditate his divine Poem in a dramatich form. 
It is, indeed, justly observed by Mr. Warton, on the 
very fine passage, ver. 33, of the Vacation Exercise, 
written when Milton was only nineteen, e that it con- 
tains strong indications of a young mind anticipating 
the subject of Paradise Lost!— Cowley found him- 
self to be a poet, or, as he himself tells us, ' was 
made one,' by the delight he took in Spenser's Fairy 
Queen, ' which was wont to lay in his mother's 
apartment ;' and which he had read all over, before 
he was twelve years old. That Dryden was, in some 
degree, similarly indebted to Cowley, we may collect 
from his denominating him ' the darling of my 
youth, the famous Cowley.' Pope, at a little more 
than eight years of age, was initiated in poetry by the 
perusal of Ogilby's Homer and Sandys's Ovid ; and 
to the latter he has himself intimated obligations, 
where he declares in his Notes to the Iliad, ' that 
English poetry owes much of its present beauty to 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. xlv 

the translations of Sandys/ The rndimenta poetica 
of our great poet I suppose similarly to have been 
Sylvester's Du Bartas ; which, I conceive, not only 
elicited the first sparks of poetick fire from the pu- 
bescent genius of Milton, but induced him, from that 
time, to devote himself principally to sacred poesy, 
and to select Urania for his immediate Muse, 

* magno perculsus amore.'" 



While I agree with Mr. Dunster, that Milton has 
adopted several thoughts and expressions from Syl- 
vester, I must observe that, although the poem of 
Du Bartas treats largely of the Creation of the 
World and the Fall of Man, the Origin of Para- 
dise Lost may not perhaps be absolutely attributed 
to that work. " Smit with the love of sacred song," 
Milton, I apprehend, might be influenced, in his 
" long choosing and beginning late," by other effu- 
sions of sacred poesy, in the language which he loved, 
and in the epick form, on similar subjects ; besides 
those of Dante, of Tasso, and of the Italian poets 
already mentioned. In the following list the Muses 
of Spain and Portugal also will be found to have 
chosen congenial themes. 

i. Discorso in versi della Creazione del Mondo sino alia 
Venuta di Gesu Cristo, per Antonio Cornozano. 4°. 1472. 

ii. Della Creatione del Mondo, Poema Sacro, del Sig. 
Gasparo Mvrtola. Giorne sette, Canti sedici. 12 m0 . Venet. 
1608. 

iii. Epamerone, overo 1? opera de sei Giorni, Poema di 
Don Felice Passero. 12 mo . Venet. 1609. 



Xlvi AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

iv. Creacion del Mundo, Poema Espagnol, por el Doctor 
Alonzo de Azevedo. 8 V0 . en Roma, 1615. 

v. Da Creacao et Compolicao do Homem, Cantos tres 
por Luis de Camoens, em Verso Portugues. 4°. em Lisboa 
1615. Rimas 2 da . Parte.— Paris, 12 mo . 1759. 

The first of these poems is noticed by Baretti in 
his Italian Library, p. 58; who also mentions an 
epiek poem, first printed in Sicily, and since at 
Milan, of which he had forgotten the dates, entitled 
" L' Adamo del Campailla. It is a philosophical 
poem, much admired by the followers of the Carte- 
sian system, who were very numerous when the au- 
thor wrote it." lb. p. 66. Baretti also mentions 
another epick poem " Le sei Giornate, di Sebas- 
tiano Erizzo. The six Days, that is, the Creation 
performed in six days," &c. lb. p. 64. But this is 
a mistake. Le sei Giornate of Erizzo is neither a 
poem, nor at all connected with the history of the 
Creation. It is a series of novels : " Le sei gior- 
nate, nelle quali sotto diuersi fortunati et infelici 
auenimenti, da sei giouani raccontati, si contengono 
ammaestramenti nobili et utili di morale Filosofia \" 

The second of the before-mentioned poems is in 
my possession ; and I have more than once found 
distant assimilation in it to passages in the Paradise 
Lost. 

The three next are mentioned by Mr. Bowie, 

*■ Proemio, p, 1. — This work of Sebastian Erizzo was printed at 
Venice, in quarto, by Giouan Varisco, &ci in 1567.- 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. xlvii 

together with the preceding poem ; as also with the 
Adamos of Andreini, Soranzo, and Serafino della 
Salandra, and with the Angeleida of Valvasone ; in 
k his manuscript Notes on Lauder's Essay. He has 
added a reference to the following work, which 
might not be unknown to Milton. 

vi. II Caso di Lucifero, di Amico Aguifilo, Crescimbeni, 
4. 126. 

To which may be subjoined another poem that 
might have attracted the great poet's notice, as it 
is pronounced by Baretti to be little inferiour to 
Dante himself. 

vii. II Quadriregio, sopra i regni d' Amore, di Satanasso, 
dei vizi, e delle virtu, di Mons. F. Frezzi Vescovo di Foligno, 
fol. Penig. 1481. 

I may venture also to point out 

viii. La Vita et Passione di Christo, &c. composta per 
Antonio Cornozano, in terza rima. Venet. 1518. 12 mo . 

In which the second chapter of the first book is 
entitled " De la creatione del mondo." 

ix. La Humanita del Figlivolo di Dio, in ottaua rima, per 
Theofilo Folengo, Mantoano. Venegia. 1533. 4°. 

In ten books : in the second of which Adam and Eve 
are particularly noticed. Dr. Burney, in his History 
of Musick, has considered the sacred drama of 77 

k Formerly the property of the late Richard Gough, Esq ; to 
whom I was much indebted for the use of the book. 

e e 



xlviii 



AN INQUIRY INTO THE 



Gran Natale di Christo by the elder Cicognini, as 
possibly subservient to Milton's plan. There is also 
a poem of l P. Antonio Glielmo, Milton's contempo- 
rary, entitled II Diluvio del Mondo ; and there are 
the Mondo Desolato of the " shepherd-boy," G. D. 
Peri, (the author also of the epick poem, Fiesole 
Distrutta,) and the Giudicio Estremo of Toldo 
Costantini ; both published m before Milton perhaps 
had determined the subject of his song. 

The writer of the article of Pona (Frangois) in 
the Nouveau Diet. Hist, a Caen, edit. 1786, says 
that Pona published " IJAdamo, poema, 1664." 
The Adamo by this writer is not, however, a poem, 
although abounding with poetical expressions, but a 
history, in three books, of the Creation and of our 
first parents. The publication was too late for Milton 
to profit by it. But there are some thoughts in it, 
to which in the ninth book of the Paradise Lost a 
resemblance or two occur. Pona was an author not 
a little admired in Italy : he died in 1652. Lore- 
dano, in a letter to him, says u n L'ingegno di V. S. 
e un giardino di Paradiso, ove non nascono che flori 
immortali. Tale ho riconosciuto V angelico." Lo- 
redano himself has also written an Italian Life of 
Adam, printed at Venice in 1640 ; translated into 

1 He died in 1644. See Elogii d' Huomini Letterati, scritti 
da Lorenzo Crasso, parte sec. Venet. 1666, p. 287. 

™ The former in 1637 ; and I believe there is an earlier edi- 
tion : the latter in 1648. 

n Lettresde Loredano, edit. Bruxelles, 1708, p. 88. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 



xlix 



English in 1659 ; and next in 1779 by Ptichard Mur- 
ray, A.M. and J.U.B. with a Dedication to the Re- 
verend Dr. Baldwin, Provost of Trinity College, 
Dublin : in which the translator makes the following 
assertion. * The noble Venetian, who was the au- 
thor of this performance originally, had no occasion 
to court the sanction of an illustrious name for his 
protection. The novelty of Adam's story, in a coun- 
try where the Scriptures are forbidden, must have 
recommended him; but it's the patronage of one 
eminent for learning must apologize for the publish- 
ing a Divine Romance in the British nation ; for so 
Milton, the great ornament of English poetry, calls 
it, and acknowledges to have received some of Ms 
finest hints from this Work. Though my author 
is here and there guilty of almost inexcusable pueri- 
lities, and impertinent reflections ; yet if we consider 
his virtues, and the many fine pictures which he ori- 
ginally delineated for the masterly hand of his suc- 
cessor, Milton, to colour and finish ; we must forget 
his faults, and ascribe them to no defect in his genius, 
but to the mistaken notions of the Italians concern- 
ing the true Sublime; a crime, which may, with 
justice, be imputed to some of their best pro- 
ductions." Where Milton has made the preceding 
acknowledgement, Mr. Murray has not informed us. 
However, I examined the work of Loredano with 
greater eagerness and attention, after I had met 
with this remarkable assertion ; and was enabled, in 
consequence, to express my opinion, that some pas- 
sages in this Italian biography may perhaps be con- 

e e2 



* AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

sidered as affording suggestions of scenery and de- 
scription to the English poet. To the Adamo of 
Loredano, I may add, as a work which proba- 
bly did not escape the notice of Milton, ** L'Eva 
di Federico Malipiero, 12mo. Venet. 1640." For 
to some parts of this obscure and forgotten pro- 
duction a trifling resemblance or two may be 
traced. 

It is not improbable that Pona and Loredano were 
acquainted with Milton ; that they were among those 
discerning persons, who ' ' in the private academies of 
Italy, whither," the poet tells us, " ° he was favoured 
to resort," fostered his blooming genius by their ap- 
probation and encouragement. Loredano was the 
founder of the Accademia degli Incogniti. His house 
at Venice was the constant resort of learned men. 
Gaddi, an Italian friend whom Milton names, and 
who has p celebrated the foundation of the academy, 
would hardly fail to introduce the young Englishman 
to the founder of it, if by no other means he had be- 
come known to him. 

Italy, then, will probably be thought to have con- 
firmed, if not to have excited, the design of Milton 
to sing " Man's disobedience, and the mortal taste of 
the forbidden fruit." 

° See the Preface to his Church Government, B. ii. and his 
Epitaph. Damon, v. 133, &c. 

p See Jacobi Gaddii Adlocutiones, et Elogia, &c. Florentiae, 
1636, 4to, p. 38. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 11 

Yet a very learned and interesting writer has 
questioned the propriety of ascribing such honour to 
Italy. " If we are to refer Milton's work," says Mr. 
q Turner, " to any other suggestion than to his own 
piety and to the Scriptures, there seems much more 
reason to give the honour to our venerable Cedmon, 
than to the heterogeneous comedy of Andreini, which 
there is no proof that Milton ever read, and the be- 
ginning of which could only disgust his correct taste. 
Indeed, if we recollect our old mysteries on the same 
subjects, there appears still less occasion to go to 
Italy in search of that which we may find at home." 
Whether the reader will subscribe entirely to this 
opinion, I greatly doubt ; but I am certain he will 
be highly gratified by the extracts drawn with taste 
and ingenuity, by Mr. Turner, from the venerable 
Anglo-Saxon poetical narration. I must first ob- 
serve, that this supposed obligation of Milton to Ced- 
mon was also long since mentioned, and at the same 
time questioned. " I hope your translator," says the 
learned bishop Nicholson to Humphrey Wanley, in 
1705, " will oblige us with the reasons of his opinion 
(if he still continues in it) that a good part of Mil- 
ton's Paradise was borrowed from Cedmon's. I can 
hardly think these two poets under the direction of 
the same spirit ; and I never could find (I think his 
Introduction to our English History rather evinces 
the contrary) that Oliver's secretary was so great a 



« Hist, of the Anglo-Saxons, 2d edit. 4to. 1807. Preface, 
and Vol. ii. 309, seq. 



HI AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

master of the Saxon language, as to be able to make 
Cedmon's paraphrase his own r ." We now revert to 
Mr. Turner. 

" Various speculations," he observes, " have been 
made on the sources to which Milton has been in- 
debted for the subject of his great poem. The ex- 
tracts, cited from our Cedmon, shew that this ancient 
poet has anticipated somewhat of the Miltonick cha- 
racter and agency of Satan. It is also remarkable 
that both Cedmon and Milton begin their poems 
with stating the fall of Satan, and his expulsion from 
Heaven. Cedmon's paraphrase was printed by Ju- 
nius, who lived much in England in 1655. Milton 
is said by Aubrey to have begun his Paradise Lost 
two years before the restoration, or in 1658. It is 
presumed to have been finished in 1665, and its first 
edition appeared in 1667. As our immortal poet 
wrote the history of the Anglo-Saxon times, and in 
that quotes a Saxon document, the Saxon Chronicle, 
We may believe him to have been interested by such 
an important part of their literature as Cedmon's 
paraphrase, which, though printed at Amsterdam, 
must, from the connections of Junius, who had the 
MSS. from Archbishop Usher, have been much 
known in England. Cedmon's poem is, in the first 
part, a Paradise Lost, in rude miniature. It con- 
tains the fall of the angels, the creation, the tempta- 
tion of Eve, and the expulsion from Paradise. In 

r Bp. Nicholson's Correspond, vol. ii. p. 651. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 



lili 



its first topick, the fall of the angels, it exhibits 
much of a Miltonick spirit ; and if it were clear that 
our illustrious bard had been familiar with Saxon, 
we should be induced to think that he owed some- 
thing to the paraphrase of Cedmon. No one at least 
can read Cedmon without feeling the idea intruding 
upon his mind. As the subject is curious, I shall 
make no apology for very copious extracts from 
Cedmon, translated as literally as possible : 



" On the Fall of the Angels. 



" To us it is much right 

that we the Ruler of the firma- 
ment, 

the Glory-King of Hosts, 

with words should praise, 

with minds should love. 

He is in power abundant, 

High Head of all creatures, 

Almighty Lord ! 

There was not to him ever be- 
ginning 

nor origin made ; 

nor now end cometh. 

Eternal Lord ! 

But he will be always powerful 

over heaven's stools % 

in high majesty, 

truth-fast and very strenuous, 

Ruler of the bosoms of the sky ! 
Then were they set 

wide and ample, 

thro' God's power, 



for the children of glory, 
for the guardians of spirits. 
They had joy and splendor, 
and their beginning-origin, 
the hosts of angels ; 
bright bliss was their great fruit. 
The glory-fast thegns 
praised the King : 
they said willingly praise 
to their Life -Lord ; 
they obeyed his domination with 
virtues. 
They were very happy ; 
sins they knew not ; 
nor to frame crimes : 
but they in peace lived 
with their Eternal Elder. 
Otherwise they began not 
to rear in the sky, 
except right and truth, 
before the Ruler of the angels, 
for pride divided them in error. 



s " I use the term in tire original, because such expressions as have any allu- 
sion to ancient manners should always be preserved." 



liv 



AN INQUIRY INTO THE 



They would not prolong 
council For themselves ! 
but they from self-love 
throw off God's. 
They had much pride 
that they against the Lord 
would divide 
the glory-fast place, 
the majesty of their hosts, 
the wide and bright sky. 

To him their grief happened, 
envy, and pride ; 
to that angel's mind 
that this ill counsel 
began first to frame, 
to weave and wake. 

Then he words said, 
darkened with iniquity, 
that he in the north part 
a home and high seat 
of heaven's kingdom 
would possess. 

Then was God angry f 
and with the host wrath 
that he before esteemed 
illustrious and glorious. 
He made for those perfidious 
an exiled home, 
a work of retribution, 
Hell's groans and hard hatreds. 
Our Lord commanded the pu- 
nishment-house 
for the exiles to abide, 
deep, joyless, 
the rulers of spirits. 

When he it ready knew 
with perpetual night foul, 
sulphur including, 
over it full fire 



and extensive cold, 

with smoke and red flame, 

he commanded them over 

the mansion, void of council, 

to increase the terror-punish- 
ment. 
They had provoked accusa- 
tion ; 

grim against God gathered to- 
gether, 

to them was grim retribution 
come. 

They said, that they the king- 
dom 

with fierce mind would possess, 

and so easily might. 

Them the hope deceived, 

after the Governor, 

the high King of Heaven, 

his hands upreared. 

He pursued against the crowd ; 

nor might the void of mind, 

vile against their Maker, 

enjoy might. 

Their loftiness of mind departed, 

their pride was diminished. 
Then was he angry ; 

he struck his enemies 

with victory and power, 

with judgement and virtue, 

and took away joy : 

peace from his .enemies, 

and all pleasure : 

Illustrious Lord ! 

and his anger wreaked 

on the enemies greatly, 

in their own power 

deprived of strength. 
He had a stern mind, 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. lv 

grimly provoked ; To them was glory lost, 

he seized in his wrath their threats broken, 

on the limbs of his enemies, their majesty curtailed, 

and them in pieces broke, stained in splendor ; 

wrathful in mind. they in exile afterwards 

He deprived of their country pressed on their black way. 

his adversaries, They needed not loud to laugh ; 

from the stations of glory but they in Hell's torments 

he made and cut off, weary remained, and knew 
Our Creator ! woe, 

the proud race of angels from sad and sorry : 

heav'n ; they endured sulphur, 

the faithless host. covered with darkness, 

The Governor sent a heavy recompence, 

the hated army because they had begun 

on a long journey, to fight against God. 

with mourning speech, Ced. p. 1, 2. 

" But that part of Cedmon which is the most ori- 
ginal product of his own fancy, is his account of 
Satan's hostility. To us, the Paradise Lost of Mil- 
ton has made this subject peculiarly interesting ; and 
as it will be curious to see how an old Saxon poet 
has previously treated it, we* shall give another copi- 
ous extract. Some of the touches bring to mind a 
few of Milton's conceptions. But in Cedmon the 
finest thoughts are abruptly introduced, and very 
roughly and imperfectly expressed. In Milton the 
same ideas are detailed in all the majesty of his dic- 
tion, and are fully displayed with that vigour of in- 
tellect in which he has no superior. 

" The universal Ruler had The holy Lord ! 
of the angelic race, a fortress established, 

through his hand-power, To them he well trusted 



lvi 



AN INQUIRY INTO THE 



that they his service 
would follow, 
would do his will. 
For this he gave them under- 
standing, 
and with his hands made them. 
The Holy Lord 
had stationed them 
so happily. 

One he had so 
strongly made, 
so mighty, 

in his mind's thought ; 
he let him rule so much ; 
the highest in heaven's king- 
dom; 
he had made him 
so splendid ; 
so beautiful 
was his fruit in heaven, 
which to him came 
from the Lord of Hosts ; 
that he was like 
the brilliant stars. 

Praise ought he 
to have made to his Lord ; 
he should have valued dear 
his joys in heaven ; 
he should have thanked his Lord 
for the bounty which 
in that brightness he shared ; 
when he was permitted 
so long to govern. 

But he departed from it 



to a worse thing. 

He began to upheave strife 

against the Governor 

of the highest heaven, 

that sits on the holy seat. 

Dear was he to our Lord ; 

from whom it could not be hid, 

that his angel began 

to be over proud. 

He raised himself 
against his Master ; 
he sought inflaming speeches ; 
he began vainglorious words ; 
he would not serve God ; 
he said he was his equal 
in light and shining ; 
as white and as bright in 

hue. 
Nor could he find it in his 

mind 
to render obedience 
to his God, 
to his King. 
He thought in himself 
that he could have subjects 
of more might and skill 
than the Holy God. 

Spake many words 
this angel of pride. 
He thought through his own 

craft 
that he could make 
a more stronglike seat, 
higher in the heavens. 



" Satan is represented as uttering this soliloquy, 
which begins with doubting about his enterprise, but 
ends in a determination to pursue it : 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 



lvii 



" Why should I contend ? 
I cannot have 

any creature for my superior ! 
I may with my hands 
so many wonders work ! 
and I must have great power 
to acquire a more godlike stool, 
higher in the heavens ! 

Yet why should I 
sue for his grace ? 
or bend to him 
with any obedience ? 
I may be 
a god, as he is. 
Stand by me, 
strong companions ! 
who will not deceive me 
in this contention. 
Warriors of hardy mind ! 



they have chosen me 

for their superior ; 

illustrious soldiers ! 

with such, indeed, 

one may take counsel ! 

with such folk 

may seize a station ! 

My earnest friends they are, 

faithful in the effusions of their 

mind. 
I may, as their leader, 
govern in this kingdom. 
So I think it not right, 
nor need I 
flatter any one, 
as if to any gods 
a god inferior. 
I will no longer 
remain his subject'. 



"After narrating the consequent anger of the Deity, 
and the defeat and expulsion of Satan, the poet thus 
describes his abode in the infernal regions : 



" The fiend, with all his fol- 
lowers, 
fell then out of heaven ; 
during the space 
of three nights and days ; 
the angels from heaven 
into hell ; and them all 
the Lord turned into devils : 
because that they 
his deed and word 
would not reverence. 
For this, into a worse light 



under the earth beneath 
the Almighty God 
placed them, defeated ; 
in the black hell. 
There have they for ever, 
for an immeasurable length, 
each of the fiends, 
fire always renewed. 
There comes at last 
the eastern wind, 
the cold frost 
mingling with the fires. 



1 I e, his younger. 



Iviii 



AN INQUIRY INTO THE 



Always fire or arrows, 
some hard tortures, 
they must have : 
it was made for their punish- 
ment. 
Their world was turned round. 
Hell was filled 
with execrations. — 

They suffer the punishment 
of their battle against their 

Ruler ; 
the fierce torrents of fire 



in the midst of hell : 
brands and broad flames ; 
so likewise bitter smoke, 
vapour, and darkness. — 

They were all fallen 
to the bottom of that fire 
in the hot hell, 
thro' their folly and pride. 
Sought they other land, 
it was all void of light, 
and full of fire, 
a great journey of fire. — 



" Another of Satan's speeches may be cited 



" Then spake the overproud 
king, 
that was before 
of angels the most shining ; 
the whitest in heaven ; 
by his Master beloved, 
to his Lord endeared ; 
till he turned to evil — 
Satan said, 
with sorrowing speech — 

Is this the narrow place,, 
unlike, indeed, to the others 
which we before knew, 
high in heaven's kingdom, 
that my Master puts me in ? 
But those we must not have, 
by the Omnipotent 
deprived of our kingdom, 
He hath not done us right, 
that he hath filled us 
with fire to the bottom 
of this hot hell, 

and taken away heaven's king- 
dom. 



He hath marked that 

with mankind 

to be settled. 

This is to me the greatest sorrow, 

that Adam shall, 

he that was made of earth, 

my stronglike stool possess. 

He is to be thus happy, 

while we suffer punishment ; 

misery in this hell! 

Oh that I had free 

the power of my hands, 

and might for a time 

be out ; 

for one winter's space, 

I and my army ! 

but iron bonds 

lay around me ! 

knots of chains press me down ! 

I am kingdomless ! 

hell's fetters 

hold me so hard, 

so fast encompass me ! 

Here are mighty flames 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE B&ST. 



lix 



above and beneath ; 

I never saw 

a more hateful landscape. 

This fire never languishes ; 

hot over hell, 

encircling rings, 

biting manacles, 

forbid my course. 

My. army is taken from me, 

my feet are bound, 

my hands imprisoned ! — 

Thus hath God confined me. 

Hence I perceive 

that he knows my mind. 

The Lord of Hosts 

likewise knows 

that Adam should from us 



suffer evil 

about heaven's kingdom, 
if I had the power of my hands. 
He hath now marked out 
a middle region ; 
where he hath made man 
after his likeness. 
From him he will 
again settle 

the kingdom of heaven 
with pure souls. 
We should to this end 
diligently labour, 
that we on Adam, 
if we ever may, 
and on his offspring, 
work some revenge. 



" After explaining his plan of seducing Adam to 
disobedience, he adds, 



" If, when king, 
to any of my thegns 
I formerly gave treasures ; 
when we in that good kingdom 
sat happy, 
and had the power of our 

thrones ; 
when he to me, 
in that beloved time, 
could give no recompence, 
to repay my favour ; 
let him now again, 
some one of my thegns, 
become my helper, 
that he may escape hence 
thro' these barriers ; 
that he with wings may fly, 



may wind into the sky, 
to where Adam and Eve 
stand created on the earth. — 

If any of you 
could by any means change 

them, 
that they God's word, 
his command would neglect, 
soon they to him 
would become odious. 
If Adam break thro' 
his obedience, 
then with them would the 

Supreme 
become enraged, 
and award their punishment. 

Strive ye all for this, 



1* Alf INQUIRY INTO THE 

how ye may deceive them ! a reward shall be ready- 
Then shall I repose softly, I will set him 
even in these bonds. near to myself. 
To him that succeeds Cedm. 6 — 11."- 



An old English mystery also has been u lately 
cited, as a rude dramatick outline of the subject of 
the Paradise Lost ; but the speeches of Deus and 
of Lucifer, which have been extracted from it, 
afford not a ray of assimilation to Milton. 

Mr. Bowie, in his catalogue of poets who have 
treated Milton's subject before him, mentions Al- 
cimus Avitus, archbishop of Vienna, who wrote a 
poem, in Latin hexameters, De Initio Mundi, et 
primorum Parentum Creatione ; but offers little 
else respecting it. Possibly some of the sentiments 
and expressions, in this poem, might arrest the no- 
tice of Milton. In the notes on Paradise Lost, an 
example or two, in support of this supposition, will 
be found. The reader may not here be displeased 
with the extensive description which this author has 
given of Satan's reflection on the happiness he had 
lost, his envy on beholding our first parents, and his 
determination of drawing them into his own misera- 
ble state. Lib. ii. cap. 3. 

" Plus doluit periisse sibi, quod possidet alter. 
" Tunc mixtus cum felle pudor sic pectore questus 
" Explicat, et tali suspiria voce relaxat. 

" Proh dolor! hoc nobis subitum consurgere plasma, 

" Gait's Life of Wolsey, 1824, p. 268. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 



lxi 



" Invisumque genus nostra crevisse ruina ? 

" Me celsum virtus habuit ; nunc ecce neglectus 

" Pellor, et angelico limus succedit honori : 

" Ccelum terra tenet, vili compage levata 

" Regnat humus ; nobisque perit translata potestas. 

" Nee tamen in totum periit ; pars magna retentat 

n Vim propriam ; summaque cluet virtute nocendi. 

" Nil difFerre juvat : jam nunc certamine blando 

" Congrediar, dum prima salus, experta nee ullos 

" Simplicitas ignava dolos ad tela pavebit. 

" Nam melius soli capientur fraude, priusquam 

" Fcecundam mittant aeterna in secula prolem. 

" Nil immortale e terra prodire sinendum est : 

" Fons generis pereat ; capitis defectio membris 

" Semen mortis erit ; pariat discrimina leti 

" Vitae principium ; cuncti feriantur in uno : 

'■' Non faciet vivum radix occisa cacumen \ 

" Haec mihi dejecto tantum solatia restant : 

" Si nequeo clausos iterum conscendere ccelos, 

" His quoque claudentur : levius cecidisse putandum est 

" Si nova perdatur simili substantia casu. 

" Sit comes excidii, subeat consortia pcenae ; 

" Et quos praevideo nobiscum dividat ignes ! 

" Sed ne difficilis fallendi causa putetur 

" HaBC monstranda via est, dudum quam saepe cucurri 

" In pronum lapsus : quaB me jactantia coelo 

" Expulit, haec hominem paradisi e limine pellat l" 

Then follows his assuming the form of the serpent, 
and his temptation of Eve preceded by a most flat- 
tering commendation of her beauty. Phillips, in his 
x account of this author, adds the name of Claudius 
Marius Victor, a rhetorician of Marseilles, who also 
wrote upon Genesis in hexameters. The produc- 

x Theat. Poet. edit. 1675. Ancient Poets, p. 12. 



lxii AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

tions of these two poets were published together in 
a small quarto at Paris in 1545, and afterwards. I 
find, in the composition of Victor, nothing worthy 
of citation. 

Pantaleon Candidus, a German poet, has a copy 
of verses, I observe, in his Loci communes theolo- 
gici, &e. Basil. 8vo. 1570, p. 24, entitled Lapsus 
Adce ; and in a nuptial hymn, in the same volume, 
p. 110, he has painted the creation of Eve in lines 
not unworthy the attention of Milton. 

" Ergo, novum molitus opus, Pater ipse profundum 
" Instillat somnum, cui jam in tellure jacenti 
" Eximit insertam lato sub pectore costam, 
" Explens carne locum, sed enim pulcherrima visu 
" Fcemina, quae donis superaret quicquid in orbe e^st, 
" Exoritur ; qualis primo cum Lucifer ortu 
" Evehit auricomum gemmata luce nitorem. 
" Nee mora surgenti e somnis, lucemque tuenti, 
" Matronam insignem Genitor vultuque decoram 
" Obtulit ante oculos Ada3 : miratur honorem 
" Egregium, et toto fulgentem pectore formam ; 
" Agnoscitque suo sumptum de corpore corpus, 
" Et sic incipiens lseto tandem ore profatur : 

*' Aspicio, accipioque libens tua maxima rerum 
" Munera largitor, nostris ex ossibus ossa. 
" Formata in teneros humani corporis artus 
" Offers, egregiaque thori me compare donas," &c. 

I must not omit to mention an English poem, 
relating to the state of innocence, entitled " The 
Glasse of Time in the two first Ages, divinely 
handled by Thomas Peyton, of Lincolne's Inne, 
Gent." 4to. Lond. 1623 ; and to observe also that 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. lxiii 

Part of Du Bartas had been translated into verse, 
and published, before the first edition of Sylvester's, 
" by William Lisle of Wilburgham, Esquier for the 
King's body," namely, in 1596 and 1598, and again 
in 1625. Lisle's compound epithets, in his transla- 
tion, are numerous, and sometimes very beautiful. 
Sylvester has often merit also of this kind : but Syl- 
vester is not always original : his shining phrases 
may be frequently traced in contemporary or pre- 
ceding poets. In justice, however, to this laborious 
and amusing writer, I shall here close my remarks 
with a detached specimen of his poetry ; to which, 
if Milton has been indebted, the temptation of the 
Serpent in Paradise Lost affords such a contrast, 
that the reader will be at no loss how to appreciate 
the improvement. 

" Eve, second honour of this vniverse ! 
" Is't true (I pray) that jealous God, perverse, 
" Forbids (quoth he) both you, and all your race, 
" All the fair fruits these siluer brooks embrace ; 
" So oft bequeath 'd you, and by you possest, 
" And day and night by your own labour drest ? 

" With th' air of these sweet words, the wily Snake 
" A poysoned air inspired (as it spake) 
" In Eve's frail brest ; who thus replies : O ! knowe, 
" Whate'er thou be, (but thy kind care doth showe . 
" A gentle friend,) that all the fruits and flowrs 
" In this earth's-heav'n are in our hands and powrs, 
" Except alone that goodly fruit diuine, 
" Which in the midst of this green ground doth shine ; 
" But all good God (alas ! I wot not why) 
" Forbad us touch that tree, on pain to dy. — 

F f 



lxiV AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

" She ceast ; already brooding in her heart 
" A curious wish, that will her weal subvert. 

" As a false louer, that thick snares hath laid 
" T' intrap the honour of a fair young maid, 
" When she (though little) listning ear affords 
" To his sweet, courting, deep-affected words, 
" Feels some asswaging of his freezing flame, 
" And sooths himself with hope to gain his game ; 
" And, rapt with joy, vpon this point persists, 
•' That parking city never long resists ; 
" Even so the Serpent, that doth counterfet 
' ' A guileful call t' allure vs to his net, 
" Perceiuing Eve his flattering gloze digest, 
*' He prosecutes ; and, jocund, doth not rest, 
" Till he haue try'd foot, hand, and head, and all, 
" Vpon the breach of this new-battered wall. 

" No, Fair, (quoth he) beleeve not that the care 
" God hath, mankinde from spoyling death to spare, 
•* Makes him forbid you (on so strict condition) 
" This purest, fairest, rarest fruit's fruition. 
" A double fear, an envie, and a hate, 
" His iealous heart for euer cruciate ; 
" Sith the suspected vertue of this tree 
" Shall soon disperse the cloud of idiocy, 
" Which dims your eyes ; and, further, make you seem 
" (Excelling vs) even equal! gods to him. 
" O World's rare glory ! reach thy happy hand, 
" Reach, reach, I say ; why dost thou stop or stand ? 
" Begin thy bliss, and do not fear the threat 
" Of an vncertain God-head, onely great 
" Through self-aw'd zeal : Put on the glistering pall 
" Of immortality ; Do not forestall 
" (As envious stepdame) thy posteritie 
e< The soverain honour of Divinitie." 

Sylvester's Du Bartas, edit. 1621, pp. 192, 193. 

As Milton has been supposed to have been much 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. lxv 

obliged to other poets in describing the unsubdued 
spirit of Satan, especially where he says, 

" Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven ;" 

I am tempted to make an extract or two from Staf- 
ford's Niobe, a, prose-work already y mentioned, in 
which Satan speaks the following words ; not dissi- 
milar to passages in Fletcher and Crashaw, which 
have been cited, on the same subject. 

" They say, forsooth, that pride was the cause of my fall ; 
and that I dwell where there is nothing but w T eeping, howl- 
ing, and gnashing of teeth ; of which that falsehood was the 
authour, I will make you plainelie perceiue. True it is, 
Sir, that I (storming at the name of supremacie) sought to 
depose my Creatour ; which the watchful, all-seeing eye of 
Prouidence rinding, degraded me of my angelicall dignitie, 
dispossessed me of all pleasures ; and the Seraphin, and 
Cherubin, Throni, Dominationes, Virtutes, Potestates, 
Principatus, Arch-angeli, Angeli, and all the celestiall 
Hierarchyes, (with a shout of applause,) sung my departure 
out of heauen : my Alleluia was turned into an Ehu ; and 
too soone I found, that I was corruptibilis ab alio, though 
not in alio ; and that he, that gaue me my being, could 
againe take it from mee. Noiv,for as much as I was once 
an Angeli of light, it teas the will of Wisedome to confine me 
to darknes, and to create me Prince thereof: that so I, who 

COULD NOT OBEY IN HEAVEN, MIGHT COMMAUND IN 

Hell. And, belieue mee, Sir, I had rather controule within 
my dark diocese, than to reinhabite cadum empyrium, and there 
Hue in subjection, vnder check" Edit. 1611, pp. 16—18, 
part the second. Stafford calls Satan the " grim-visag'd 
Goblin," ibid. p. 85. And, in the first part of the book, he 

> See the Note h , p. 386. 
f f 2 



lxvi • AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

describes the devil as having £( committed incest ivith his 
daughter, the World." p. 3. 

1 have thus brought together opinions, delivered 
at different periods, respecting the Origin of Para- 
dise Lost ; and have humbly endeavoured to trace, 
in part, the reading of the great poet, subservient to 
his plan. More successful discoveries will probably 
arise from the pursuits of those, who are devoted to 
patient and liberal investigation. " z Videlicet hoc 
illud est praecipue studiorum genus, quod vigiliis 
augescat ; ut cui subinde ceu fluminibus ex decursu, 
sic accedit ex lectione minutatim quo fiat uberius." 
To such persons may be recommended the masterly 
observations of him, who was once so far imposed 
upon as to believe Lauder an honest man, and Mil- 
ton a plagiary ; but who expressed, when " a Doug- 
las and Truth appeared," the b strongest indignation 
against the envious impostor : for they are observa- 
tions resulting from a wish not to depreciate, but 
zealously to praise, the Paradise Lost. " c Among 
the inquiries, to which this ardour of criticism has 
naturally given occasion, none is more obscure in 
itself, or more worthy of rational curiosity, than a 
retrospect of the progress of this mighty genius in 

2 Politian. Miscellaneorum Praef. 

a The Progress of Envy, an excellent poem occasioned by 
Lauder's attack on the character of Milton. See Lloyd's Poems, 
1762, p. 221. 

b So bishop Douglas told the affectionate biographer of Dr. 
Johnson. See Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. i. p. 197, edit. 
1799. 

c See Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. i. p. 199. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. lxvii 

the construction of his work ; a view of the fabrick 
gradually rising, perhaps, from small beginnings, till 
its foundation rests in the center, and its turrets 
sparkle in the skies ; to trace back the structure, 
through all its varieties, to the simplicity of its first 
plan ; to find what was first projected, whence the 
scheme was taken, how it was improved, by what 
assistance it was executed, and from what stores 
the materials were collected; whether its founder 
dug them from the quarries of Nature, or demolished 
other buildings to embellish his own." 

I may venture to add that, in such inquiries, pati- 
ence will be invigorated rather than dispirited ; and 
every new discovery will teach us more and more to 
admire the genius, the erudition, and the memory, 
of the inimitable Milton. Todd. 



the END. 



LONDON: 

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2 2. Z-b^'b 









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Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: March 2009 

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